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Iris Jiang

Amidst the glitz and glamour of season 16 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, a beacon of vibrant yellow stood out.
Nymphia Wind, the drag persona of 28-year-old fashion designer Leo Tsao, was just about to experience her moment of triumph decades in the making.
Donning a bright yellow bikini and miniskirt, she was about to become the first winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race from East Asia in the show’s 15-year history. Only seven people from Asia have made it to RuPaul’s top four since the show premiered in 2009.
During her final performance at the end of April, she swept onto the stage for a high-energy performance featuring multiple yellow costumes, stealing the show.
Throughout the competition, Nymphia Wind has become synonymous with the colour yellow, and she often deploys references to bananas in her outfits.
“Yellow represents the colour of my skin,” Nymphia Wind said in an interview ahead of the finale, emphasising her aim to raise awareness and appreciation of Asian culture.
Tsao, born in Los Angeles and raised in Hong Kong and Taiwan, was inspired by K-pop girl groups in high school and ventured into cross-dressing when she studied fashion design in Rochester, UK, graduating in 2017.
During her younger years, Tsao was bullied as a child for her gender expression but received strong support from her mother, who still watches her shows and helps her with the logistics of her drag career.
In 2018, Tsao began to develop the persona “Nymphia Wind” while performing in Taipei.
Her first name, Nymphia, comes from the Japanese name of the Pokémon character Sylveon, a fairy-type character that is one of the possible evolutions from the iconic Evee character.
Her choice of the word “Wind” symbolises freedom and is a homophone to the Mandarin word for “craziness”.
“Leo and Nymphia are fused; we’re one. She’s like an extension of me, an extension that pushes me to express myself,” Tsao told Taiwan Scene, a local news outlet.
Throughout her run on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind gained strong support at home and abroad. Every Saturday, the day the show airs, crowds pack gay bars in Taipei to watch the latest episode, wearing yellow to support the queen they call the “Banana Buddha”.

In her first appearance on the show, Nymphia Wind wore a towering wig adorned with multiple pairs of yellow sunglasses. She also donned a yellow overcoat, beneath which she attached a plush banana to her crotch. Upon entering the stage, she “slipped” on a banana peel.
She often deploys makeup styles inspired by Taiwanese opera and has also perfected styles from Japanese “butoh” (a form of dance) and European Rococo-style makeup.
Reflecting on the show, she wrote on social media: “Drag lets me reconnect with my culture; it teaches me to be a proud Asian.”
“The talent show was definitely an opportunity for me to showcase something I didn’t think I would be able to do in a competition setting – traditional Asian sleeve dance,” she said. “So, of course, I had to take this chance to really show what us Asians are made of.”
Sleeve dances feature people donning loose, flowing outfits with extremely long sleeves that twirl in the wind when they move their bodies.
The acceptance of drag culture in Taiwan and across Asia varies, but figures like Nymphia Wind are pivotal in altering perceptions.

In Taiwan, the drag scene is burgeoning, shifting from being predominantly influenced by foreigners two decades ago to a growing community of local and global performers, according to youth culture magazine Dazed.
Her efforts to showcase “Asian excellence” earned praise from judges of RuPaul’s Drag Race, and she has been booked for shows in Japan and the Philippines.


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Star was bullied as teenager because of her gender identity, says drag has helped her connect to her roots, promote Asian pride


One of Taiwan’s rising stars is a drag queen named Nymphia Wind, who this year became the first Asian to win RuPaul’s Drag Race in the show’s history.


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Profile | Taiwan drag queen Nymphia Wind first from Asia to win reality TV contest RuPaul’s Drag Race

Star was bullied as teenager because of her gender identity, says drag has helped her connect to her roots, promote Asian pride