On Feb. 28, students lined up across the Langson Library Courtyard and prepared for the LGBTQ Resource Center’s Charli xcx and Troye Sivan look-alike contest. Open to all students, the contest followed the celebrity look-alike trend that swept through major cities and social media last fall.
This contest encouraged students to emulate British singer-songwriter Charli xcx and Australian singer-songwriter Troye Sivan.
A total of nine students entered the contest — five embodied the persona of Charli xcx, and four took on the role of Troye Sivan. To determine the winners, three distinct rounds were held: a runway showcase, a dance performance and a slogan oration, each highlighting a different aspect of the contestant’s likeness to their chosen celebrity.
“I didn’t want the competition to just be about looks because I feel like there’s so much creativity, especially with the whole ‘brat summer’ stuff,” contest organizer and LGBTQ Resource Center student intern Alexandria Robertson told New University. “There’s just so much different, like, funny things you can do with the competition, and so I really wanted to see people get creative. I just wanted the competition to be more inclusive.”
The LGBTQ Resource Center is a campus organization that “provides a wide range of education and advocacy services supporting intersectional identity development.” Events held by the center range from social gatherings, such as Gayming, to community knowledge-sharing sessions, like Stay Woke.
The event concluded with a final contestant lineup, and two winners were crowned — one for each celebrity. Third-year earth system science major Brendan Picquelle won for his Troye Sivan portrayal, and third-year social ecology major Melissa Perez won for her portrayal of Charli xcx. A popular vote of cheers determined the victors.
“I think for me this competition was a fun little side quest since I’ve been studying so much over the past few weeks,” Perez told New University. “This was a spontaneous thing that I decided to do, and I had a lot of fun doing it. It was especially fun to see how many other people were having a good time, which helped me relax a little bit.”
Originally, the Charli xcx and Troye Sivan look-alike contest was devised as a way to help destress and bring together the UCI community.
“Right now, for many marginalized communities, and especially in the queer community, it’s really rough,” Robertson said. “Politics are really going crazy right now, and it’s created a super stressful environment that is not great to have to be living in. And so, I thought the contest would be a really fun way to help celebrate queer culture, internet culture and all silly stuff, and give everyone a break or reprieve from the sucky life we’re having to live through right now.”
Although Charli xcx and Troye Sivan were chosen largely because of their growing cultural presence, their impact on the LGBTQ community was also a major factor, according to Transgender Care Specialist Bowie Rivera.
“These kinds of events are all about fostering a sort of community and boosting up people, which is what the center is here for,” Rivera told New University. “When [Robertson] came to me with an idea that is so funny, especially since it can be really depressing right now, I thought that it could be a great way to give people a break. We try really hard to make queer people feel like they can be in a community.”
With the look-alike contest standing as a fun deviation from the LGBTQ Resource Center’s norm, the organization aims to continue working toward its goal of queer inclusivity through weekly rotating programs, according to LGBTQ Resource Center Program Coordinator Amy Pham. Moving forward, students can expect several large events from the LGBTQ Resource Center.
“In the spring quarter, our biggest event is probably the Lavender Celebration and the Meteor Celebration,” Pham told New University. “I think it’s more important now than ever to have our community come together with our allies and to just celebrate queer and trans joy. We’re working together with other organizations across campus to create a Pride Week where we’re going to have a bunch [of] queer booths out there, artists and performers all just having a really good time.”
Students can find more events and resources from the LGBTQ Resource Center on its website or visit its on-campus office in Room G301 at the Student Center.
Skyller Liu is a Features Intern for the winter 2025 quarter. He can be reached at skyllerl@uci.edu.
Edited by Sofia Feeney and Jaheem Conley.