NZ's top drag queen celebrates 74th birthday
Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:42p.m.
By Tova O'Brien
http://www.3news.co.nz/NZs-top-drag-queen-celebrates-74th-birthday/tabid/418/articleID/124810/cat/55/Default.aspx (http://www.3news.co.nz/NZs-top-drag-queen-celebrates-74th-birthday/tabid/418/articleID/124810/cat/55/Default.aspx)
She's been in drag for 60 years, living in Sydney for 30, and today Carmen Rupe, the most recognised New Zealand queen, came back home to celebrate her 74th birthday.
Impossible to ignore and never one to shy away from a grand entrance, Carmen came back to Wellington in style.
It's a style that came from trying on her mother's dresses as a kid, and honed where you'd least expect it - military training school.