Felicia Foxx‘s career was launched with a dress, and it hit a new peak this year with another. The Sydney-based drag queen and Gamilaroi and Dunghutti sistergirl first rose to fame off the back of an incredible Aboriginal flag dress. Last month, she went viral again, wearing a gumnut dress by Marrithiyel designer Paul McCann down the runway at Afterpay Australian Fashion Week.
“It was absolutely amazing,” Foxx, 20, told PEDESTRIAN.TV, describing her Fashion Week moment as a pivotal one for First Nations people and trans Aboriginal women.
“For me, it was just a very overwhelming, happy moment, because not only is it a part of fashion, it’s a part of our culture, which is the oldest living culture on Earth,” she said.
“We got to share our stories through art and fashion.”
Born and bred in Campbelltown, NSW, Foxx found drag when she was 16. And it gave her the clarity she needed to be who she is today – a trans women.
Drag for Foxx really took off after a club promoter booked her for a queer event in Wollongong. After that, she found herself at the 2018 Mardi Gras in that iconic Aboriginal flag sequin gown, designed by Paula Bonaccorso.
“The woman who was running the float from ACON, she was like, ‘In that gown, you have to be at the front leading the whole parade,” Foxx recounted.
“And I was just like, ‘Holy shit‘, like this is my first-ever year participating in Mardi Gras and I got to lead the whole parade.”
So it’s safe to say people were surprised when Foxx wasn’t announced as part of the lineup of Stan’s Drag Race Down Under, season 1. But she would love to be on a second season, if one is announced.
“Here’s a little bit of tea,” Foxx said. “I was auditioned for season 1, but I knocked it back when it was going into recording because I was not in the right mental state at the time.”
She felt like she was partying too much in Sydney, so she moved to Canberra to get away from it all.
“[I had to] have a good cleanse and connect back to the Country and connect to culture,” Foxx said.
While there, Foxx stayed with the Aboriginal Tent Embassy to get back in touch with herself.
“I started to lose myself and a lot of my culture, you know? Being up here in Sydney, in this very modern, westernised, colonised society.”
Foxx needed healing, which is also the theme of NAIDOC Week 2021. We asked Foxx and a bunch of other iconic Indigenous legends what Heal Country! means to them.
“Black fellas have lived on this Earth since sunrise, and when we take from this Earth, we gave back to this Earth. That’s how we existed for so long,” Foxx answered.
“Healing Country is about looking after Country; society needs to be giving back to this Earth, and looking after our mother nature.”
Foxx also has another career ambition in her sights: TikTok star (YAY).
“I’ve had to ask my 13-year-old sister for some assistance, I never thought that would happen,” she shared, laughing.
“But I just find it to be such an amazing platform that people – you know, you don’t think you’re going to get an education from platforms like TikTok. I find it amazing, it can be used as such an educational tool.”
You can follow Felicia Foxx on TikTok right HERE.
