Conchita Wurst and the Art of Flirting
There’s a new Conchita Wurst video on Daily Motion (see below) I hadn’t seen before. Well, not new, but from a German TV show Conchita Wurst was interviewed on three years ago. Long before the elegant, chic and more mature Conchita Wurst we know nowadays appeared.
This Conchita was more stereotypically ‘drag queen’ in that campy, more flamboyant way many drag queens tend to go for, even down to the way she walked and the way she behaved. (Although, even at her most ‘camp’, Conchita was nowhere near as flamboyant as most of the drag queens I know.
Probably because it never really felt comfortable to her, as that’s not who she is).
And while the video is interesting simply to see the difference between Conchita then and Conchita now, and to notice the enormous progression of her stage persona, what I found absolutely charming about it was this. Conchita Wurst is a genius at the art of flirting and, in this video, she showcases that talent to perfection.
The art of flirting, of course, is practiced to make people like you.
And while Conchita already has to be one of the most naturally funny, quickest-witted and most easy to love people around, she also has an incredible propensity to be able to make people like her. Even if they may not want to. This video is a case study in how she does that. By flirting.
Watch when she first appears on stage. As she sits down and the interviewer asks his first question, you can hear the nervous giggles from the audience as they’re not quite sure how to react to her. Someone less sure of how to make people like her may, at that point, have become quite nervous. Not her (although she is nervous, but you have to look closely to be able to spot it).
Instead Conchita swings into action and begins to flirt — both with the interviewer and the audience. She tilts her head, she makes cute little grimaces with her mouth, looks down and then up through her lashes to enhance that shy look, and then, as she talks, she deliberately makes herself seem innocent with sweet facial expressions and that little girl lost look in her eyes.
She is the perfect drag version of Princess Diana but, in my eyes, even better at what she does. Because, unlike Diana, whose personality was actually quite unremarkable once you got past the flirting and the doe eyes, this girl is all personality. And a pretty damned interesting one, at that.
As the interview progresses, so do her flirting skills. Skills the interviewer certainly doesn’t seem to mind, as he joins in with the fun just as much as she does. Until, by the end, there’s quite a bit of sexual tension between the two of them, which is fascinating to see.
That, of course, is why Conchita Wurst is so spectacular at what she does. She uses her wit and her sense of humor to pull you in, and to get you to ‘connect’ with her. Then she flirts until you love her. (And, of course, it doesn’t hurt that she’s so astoundingly beautiful. Even here, with the minimal make-up and the less than perfect wig — astoundingly beautiful).
And while all of this may look easy to do, believe me, it’s not. It’s one of the most difficult things to do if you want people to think it’s genuine (and her, she’s all genuine). Conchita Wurst, though, she’s at genius level.
The art of flirting is something she still practices today, albeit in a slightly more sophisticated way. And it’s one of the many ways she continues to disarm people who may not be as receptive to her as the rest of us are. That takes some courage (there’s that horrible word again, Conchita), but a hell of a lot more intelligence.
Now, of course, I have my ideas about why she was able to master the art of flirting so well (and no, I’m not sharing those ideas with you) but let’s just say, if she deliberately chose that route, she chose it for good reason, and it has served her well.
Meanwhile, do watch Conchita Wurst in this absolutely charming German TV interview as she is spectacularly ‘on point’. Witty, funny, sweet and lovely and completely……….. irresistible.