Sasha Velour is the stage name of Alexander Hedges Steinberg a drag queen performer visual artist and hostess of Brooklyn Nightgowns show as well as the Season 9 winner of RuPauls Drag Race Sashas parents named her after Alexandra Kollontai a Russian feminist leader but for most of her life shes went by Sasha a common Russian nickname for either Alexander or Alexandra Because she was told her whole life that she had a girls name she kept it Velour comes from a fabric often used as a cheaper substitute for velvet which Sasha thinks is the perfect metaphor for drag