A fan-favorite queen on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars is embracing her Puerto Rican roots. April Carrión made a statement on the runway in a stunning outfit inspired by the vejigante mask. 

Carrión is one of the six Latina queens competing in the eleventh season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars. The Puerto Rican queen originally appeared on season six of RuPaul’s Drag Race back in 2014. Now, Carrión is currently competing in the second bracket. And her runway look this week pays homage to an iconic Puerto Rican folkloric character. 

The vejigante mask is a staple of Puerto Rican folklore and festivals. Though the mask has Spanish origins, it was Taíno and African influence that transformed it to what it is today. It’s a colorful symbol of resistance and resilience that’s proudly Puerto Rican. As a part of the butter-colored runway this week, Carrión wore a vejigante mask styled headpiece with a festival-ready outfit. She also noted the mask’s connection to Puerto Rican bomba.

“I am a vejigante, a very iconic character in the Puerto Rican bomba, which is a very traditional Puerto Rican dance,” Carrión said. “With this look, I am really doing a marriage of two things I love, which is Puerto Rican culture and queerness. I want to evoke that happiness, that freedom that there is in that bomba scene.”

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During the judges’ critiques, Carrión also talked about the intentions behind her vejigante outfit. “It’s representing a camp figure for a dance called bomba, but it’s not very queer friendly, so I decided to take that and make it my own,” she added. 

There’s two more episodes left with the second bracket cast. New episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars stream on Paramount+ every Friday.