One part memoir, one part inspirational narrative, one part self-help book and delightful to read. I am a bit biased as a huge Drag Race and Michelle Visage fan but when she mentioned library science as one of the areas you can be a diva in, I was sold. ( )

Michelle Visage is the very epitome of a diva, having graced stage and screen as a singer, television host, radio DJ, and (of course) judge on RuPaul's Drag Race. Her professional association with RuPaul actually goes back to 1996, when she began co-hosting The RuPaul show for VH1, before going on to co-host a morning radio show with RuPaul for six years, and even singing on RuPaul’s Christmas album.

The Diva Rules collects the same kind of frank, sparkling wisdom Visage shares with Drag Race contestants every week. It is a smart, sassy, no-nonsense kind of book full of chapters like Be thankful you're a misfit (Rule 2), Keep your shit together (Rule 2), and Screw the penis club (Rule 17). A humorous sort of self-help guide, it mixes equal doses of wit and wisdom in laying out her 25 Diva Rules.

Visage writes in the first chapter that “All divas, no matter what size, sex, race, orientation, class, or fashion sense, are beautiful,” and that is what this book is about. It is not about costuming, creating a persona, or passing as someone or something else. It is about embracing who you are and recognizing that beauty isn’t skin deep, it is what’s beneath the skin. She doesn’t encourage us to fit in or be normal, but to reject just being average and be thankful for what makes us stand out from the crowd.

Rule 14 and Rule 22 are probably my favourite chapters, and the ones most likely to resonate with readers of Frock. In them, Visage writes about how playing with our appearance can allow us to express ourselves and ultimately change our own self-image . . . before cautioning us not to rely on our bodies, and to never accept our bodies as our only or most important asset. Breasts, she reminds us, do not make a woman (even if they do make a great fashion accessory), and some of the ugliest people she ever met were drop-dead gorgeous on the outside.

Perhaps the most satisfying aspect of The Diva Rules is that it is written for an audience that is very interested in reshaping how we appear to others, but entirely focussed on how refining what we think of ourselves.


Originally reviewed for Frock Magazine ( )