RuPaul's Drag Race Season 15 Episode 5 Recap: "House of Fashion"

Following last week's episode that featured a shocking elimination, this time the queens enter the Werk Room minus one twin. Everyone is wondering how Spice will do in the competition without Sugar, and Spice herself is in tears as she reads her twin's farewell lipstick message. The girls vow to be there to support Spice on her journey.

Werk Room Drama: Who's Serving and Who Isn't?

Meanwhile, there's some tension between Mistress Isabelle Brooks and Marcia Marcia Marcia, carrying over from the previous session of Untucked. Both placed highly in the Snatch Game, coming just behind challenge winner Loosey LaDuca, but Marcia was sure that she placed second and Mistress, who actually did, read the New York queen to filth by saying that her look was cheap and she didn't do as well as she thought in the challenge.

As the contestants get out of drag, Spice confides in Mistress saying that she believes several people don't deserve to be here and that Sugar should have stayed over them.

The camera focuses on Aura Mayari, Jax, Salina EsTitties, and Amethyst, who have all placed near or in the bottom throughout the last several episodes.

Reading Is Fundamental

The next morning, Aura wastes no time in asking Spice to share her real thoughts in front of everybody. However, Spice is "saved by the bell" in the form of RuPaul's grand entrance. Ru then informs the girls that the Drag Race Library is about to open again for this season's Reading Challenge.

Always one of the most memorable challenges and the only one to be featured on all episodes of the show, the Reading Challenge gives the queens the chance to "read" (playfully criticize) each other in classic ballroom culture style.

Not surprisingly, given her ability to embody The Queen of Barbed One-Liners, Joan Rivers, Loosey LaDuca takes the win in this iconic exercise as well. It seems Loosey could be on a hot streak.

Aside from the silly reads, many fans took to Twitter to joke about how quickly the Reading Challenge was brushed through.

The reading challenge tonight with one hour episodes #DragRace #DragRace15 pic.twitter.com/CWqxGyiBcQ
— Palio (@Reynagay_) January 28, 2023

House of Fashion

Of course, Reading is just a warmup for the contestants' real challenge. The maxi challenge this week is for the girls to turn home decor items into haute couture, and it's time to split up into groups.

Group One, House of Visage, includes Mistress, Aura, Amethyst, Luxx Noir London, and Spice. They decide to do a New Jersey theme with a focus on over-the-top animal prints and velvet materials.

Congratulations to the House of Visage#DragRace pic.twitter.com/OPvYrcsLMz
— Joey Nolfi (@joeynolfi) January 28, 2023

Group Two, House of Matthews, has Loosey, Sasha Colby, Marcia, and Malaysia Babydoll Foxx. Based on Palm Springs, their designs go heavy on tropical print fabrics.

Group Three, House of Kressley, features Anetra, EsTitties, Robin Fierce, and Jax. They choose a Town and Country theme with an emphasis on flannel materials.

Who's On Top?

With actress and singer Janelle Monae as a guest judge, the stage is alight with glamour. Fitting, since the panel is about to determine who this week's design stars are.

The judges choose Luxx as the winner of the House of Fashion challenge, with Robin, Malaysia, and Sasha closely following. It's the first time that Robin and Malaysia have placed this highly, which could mean that their competitive sides are starting to emerge.

Although Jax is a seamstress and claims to have great sewing skills, her performance in the design challenge doesn't impress the judges. Her runway look is deemed to be basic and not living up to her skills. Still, she manages to just escape the bottom two.

Jax when Malaysia said it was her first time sewing an outfit #DragRace pic.twitter.com/F2Jm7isUQ9
— AJ (formerly known as Aj) (@followedbyaj) January 28, 2023

Lip Sync for Your Life: Who's Going Home?

Salina EsTitties and Amethyst are selected to lip sync for their lives, as the judges claim that both their runway outfits were "hot messes." This is the third lip sync for Amethyst, leaving everyone wondering if the rules of drag also follow the rules of baseball, as claimed in an earlier episode.

The two queens must lip sync to—aptly enough—Janelle Monae's "Queen." Unfortunately for Amethyst, the three-strikes dictum holds true. She can't beat EsTitties in the lip sync and is told to sashay away. At least she has her birth month of February to look forward to.

Check out Amethyst's exit interview in WHATCHA PACKIN':

Watch New Episodes of RuPaul's Drag Race Season 15

Catch next week’s episode on February 3 at 8PM ET on MTV. Stay up to date on RuPaul’s Drag Race through MTV.com and check back in with us for more episode recaps!