Back in 2003 Vanity and Courtney began Wigs By Vanity largely inspired by Rupaul's flawless lace-front wigs and their inability to find such wigs for themselves. Vanity, already a master wig stylist, taught herself to hand-knot or "ventilate" each hair strand-by-strand. Using Courtney's business savvy they travelled to China to meet with manufacturing experts in the wig field. That's how they hybrid a traditional "machine-made" wig with their new hand-made custom lace-front hairline to create a one-size-fits-most wig that was previously unavailable on the market and anything similar back then cost well over $1000. These days similar types of wigs are mass produced and available online, but none of them are the beautiful craftsman ship of the hand-tied WigsByVanity.com Über Riah. Testament to this, and a full-circle moment is many of the wigs see on Rupaul's head today are lovingly made by Vanity and Courtney. It is always such an honour and proud moment for Courtney and Vanity to see Rupaul on the mainstage of RuPaul's Drag Race wearing one of their own. There is even a color in the collection called “The Shade Of RuPaul” that was created by matching of lock of hair from one of Ru's original lace fronts. 

Bianca Del Rio is a fan - “If you want fabulous hair like mine, get Wigs By Vanity. It's the best! Shit looks real!”, she says. Conchita Wurst, winner of the Eurovision Song contest has one. Alaska Thunderfuck, Katya Zamolodchikova and Willam Belli are also often seen in Über Riahs. Alaska says “Personally, I don't wear wigs. But when I do, I choose the Classic Vanity in Illegally Blonde because it’s icy hue and rich fullness mirror my natural hair's own color and beauty.” Willam’s favorite wig is the Courtney cause “you can do so many things in it, go to the market, swim, suck a dick, volunteer work”. Katya prefers the Marie in Illegally Blonde for its high quality and manageable length “I like it slicked back with plenty of generic brand drug store hair gel to provided me the versatility to confidently assert my right to speak with the manager at a Chico's whilst living my lifelong dream of impersonating a lesbian art dealer from West Germany.

“Every wigs life begins in a bag but what happens once it's been removed is where the magic lies,” explains Vanity. “A queen must form a symbiotic relationship with her new wig and allow her character to be absorbed. Then it's just a matter of finding the perfect balance of listening to what the wig wants to do and telling it what to do.” “It's like a queen wearing a crown,” she continues. “They become one. A drag queen can exist without a wig, but an amazing wig is nothing without a drag queen.”