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There are many ways to describe Millie Sykes — iconoclast, chameleon, very cool — but we like to think of her as a glittering whirlwind of creative energy. Here, she chats to our very own Harriet “Harry” Leigh about her first Mardi Gras, the transformative power of dressing up, and her cameo as a lemon myrtle botanical blend (sounds weird, but we’ll explain in a moment).

HARRY

How did Mardi Gras make you feel when you were a young little baby queer coming out?

MILLIE

Mardi Gras was honestly my coming out, which just sounds so dramatic. For somebody, like me, who was I guess a little curious, Mardi Gras felt like the place to really explore that part of myself. Being surrounded by people who looked incredible, who were just so visible and gorgeous and in such high spirits, gave me the confidence to step into that full ownership of myself. So, 2017 Mardi Gras. Thank you.

HARRY

And how about now with WorldPride coming to Sydney?!

MILLIE

Um, obviously, I am beyond excited. Mardi Gras is such an important and special time for queers in Sydney. Hosting WorldPride — aka the Gay Olympics — is an opportunity to really send a unified message of visibility: that we are here, our love is real and true and important. It’s massive and it’s really exciting. I’m ready.

HARRIET

What does individuality mean to you?

MILLIE

For me, individuality was just coming into my full acceptance of myself and acknowledging that, you know, I am a little bit of a kook, and those parts of me should be celebrated. Individuality doesn’t have to mean that you’re unique in a specific way, or that you wear outrageous clothes (as much as I love them). It’s just about really coming to love and accept and understand and celebrate yourself as your most stunningly gorgeous, authentic self.

HARRY

Is there a point in time when you start to feel most comfortable in your own skin?

MILLIE

I grew up in a coal mining town, so when I was younger, I wasn’t really exposed to people who were doing their own thing, people who were wearing whatever they wanted, queer people — it was very sheltered and conservative. Once I was 18, I was like, get me out of here! I moved to London for one year, and then suddenly, I was just surrounded by people who were just so authentic in their gender expressions and the clothes they wore, and it made me feel really emboldened to explore that for myself.

When I moved back to Sydney, it was kind of like a blank canvas. I ended up thrifting a whole bunch of new clothes. I wouldn’t say it was the time that I felt the most affirmed in my skin, but that was the moment of just being like, okay, it’s just you, baby, it’s just you and the mirror, and what do you want to put on your body today? The process of understanding my sense of style allowed me to feel more connected to my sense of self.

HARRY

How can we make a safe space for expression and self-exploration?

MILLIE

So often queer spaces are tied to art and music. In my experience, safe spaces have always started from that place of art and music and the way that those things can bring people together. Those spaces allow us to play and have fun and to feel like our most confident, comfortable versions of ourselves, and Mardi Gras is one of the biggest expressions of that.

In another sense, it’s really important to hold a safe space within ourselves. In order to create safe spaces for others, we need to feel like we have a safe space within our own body, and that’s a personal journey and a process that we all have to individually work towards. I think you can feel that in queer spaces, where people are comfortable and affirmed in themselves. That energy just kind of resonates.

HARRY

Do you find that the themes of gender pop up in your work? And do you explore those through your work?

MILLIE

I mean, I’m a very lazy drag queen. I’ve always struggled with the makeup and everything. As a performance artist, there’s always an element of gender play that comes into it. Being that exaggerated, hyperbolized woman is often where I go with my gender exploration. I’m able to come to understand the ways in which femininity have been pigeonholed. It’s my own little way of challenging those notions.

HARRY

What advice would you like to give your younger self?

MILLIE

Explore those parts of yourself that you’re a little bit afraid of. There are probably a few things you’re being pulled toward that might feel a little bit weird. They are, and you are a kook, you are a little bit weird. Those are actually the things that you’re going to come to love about yourself the most, and people are going to celebrate you for it. Don’t be afraid to interrogate those parts of yourself because I promise they are the parts of you that will shine in your adult years.

HARRY

Do you have a personal mantra?

MILLIE

Something that I do say to myself quite often is that everything is happening exactly as it should. I feel like repeating that to myself allows me to make peace with the fact I got a parking ticket, or just make peace with things happening the way that they do. As humans, we’re so prone to having a little bit of resistance, or we’re prone to living in a future place or in the past, and I have come to realise that I feel best when I’m just sitting in the presence of everything happening as it should, in the present moment.

HARRY

Beautiful. You mentioned earlier, the personality traits you worried about when you were young, are now the most exciting parts of you. What are those personality traits that define you?

MILLIE

It comes down to desire to be big and bold and to put myself out there and to be silly and playful. The only reason I’m ever closing off those parts of myself is fear. It really was an incredibly affirming experience to overcome that.

HARRY

To wrap and celebrate, with a drink! Three words to describe your personality (as an Archie Rose botanical blend). Go:

MILLIE

Bright, confident and bold. I want to spread joy. That’s what I want to do through my work and through my performing. As a botanical blend? Lemon Myrtle. A little bit exciting with a zing. But also delicious.

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