Every old Hollywood starlet would sing in movies, there'd always be some big dance sequence. Think of Marilyn Monroe singing 'Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend.'Collection: Movies
Being a drag superstar, traveling the world and touring, it really is not as glamorous as you'd think it is. There's lots of airport drama and bags and buses and hotels. Dating and having a social life are impossible.Collection: Dating
It's easier when you're just upfront with somebody. You can just learn and grow from it.
For me, drag is about two things - confidence and glamour. Drag is about using artiface and illusion to tap into the self-confidence we all have. And glamour is about taking what you have naturally and showcasing in a way that makes you feel good. It's truly a practice in faking it until you make it.
There's something really intimate about getting in drag in your bedroom in the safety of your own home.
Getting success really quickly - overnight success - it's a bit jarring at first, for sure, to transition into that.
Sometimes, when I am in a moment of self-doubt, I think - you're Violet Chachki, you can do and achieve whatever you want.
Much of life is performative.
I'm like a cross between Bettie Page and Lady Miss Kier but a guy.
I've always put a lot of stock in aesthetics and visuals. I truly believe a picture is worth a thousand words and that fashion and glamour have the power to transport and transform someone.
For me and my drag, I think camp is about exaggeration and artifice and the celebration of superficiality. A lot of my fans look up to me as a figure of femininity but that's all artifice. That's all fake and that's campy within itself, and so that's what resonates to me: the seriousness and the funniness and the artifice and the exaggeration.
My name itself is extremely campy. Violet Chachki literally translates to purple doodad.
Where I come from, camp was kind of looked down upon because the drag queens that I grew up with took themselves so seriously.
To the fashion world, a man in a dress will always be camp. But in the drag world, you have specific genres. So for me, for instance, I'm most categorized as a 'look queen.'
The drag culture in the States is very rich and has a lot of history behind it.
Drag is all about taking references, taking pop culture and flipping it on its head.
I'm proud of what I've accomplished and that is empowering.
I use glamour as a tool, almost like armor to confidently take up space, to provoke questions and conversations about society and gender norms.
Glamour has the potential to be very powerful in that way without saying anything.
I think barefaced, minimal makeup happens mostly on editorial shoots. And I've taken a swing at minimal makeup here and there, but I think a lot of what drag celebrates is the opposite of that. I think the inauthenticity and the hyperfemininity is part of why it's so celebrated.
I'm a fashion hoarder. I have a ton of stuff, and I like to cycle it out to have room for more stuff.
To be honest, I'm kind of a Grinch.
I am, by nature, not optimistic: my fellow drag queens would probably describe me as a pessimist.
I like being in control and having total creative freedom.
I started as an inexperienced drag queen with awful makeup serving daiquiris to obnoxious bachelorette parties.
I vividly remember hearing the car pull into the driveway and looking into the mirror on my mom's vanity with a face full of makeup and the counter below me a mess; it sent me into complete panic mode. From there, I would steal bits of makeup where I could to start my own little collection and play in my bedroom with the door locked.
For me, makeup will always be about glamour, fantasy, and escapism!
My solo show, 'A Lot More Me,' is part drag show, part burlesque show, part circus show, and part fashion show.
Notes on 'Camp' talks a lot about homosexuality and androgyny and performance and a false seriousness, nit-picking the trivial things and making them funny. And that's exactly what drag does. Reading through the entire essay I couldn't help but relate all of it back to drag.
The reason I started drag in the first place is because I felt like I never really fit in, and I still don't feel like I fit in to any of those places: the drag world, the circus world or the burlesque world. I'm kinda this combination of everything, so it made sense to me that I'd set out to do my own solo show.
At things like DragWorld and Drag Con, you see young people come out in droves and be moved to tears, or hear their stories about how they found strength in what we do.
What's holding us back from being free is fear. Whether it be fear of those on the outside who don't understand queer people or any other minority, or the actual minorities themselves being scared. The lack of freedom we experience is all tied to fear.
You always have to try something to know what's gonna happen next.
There's nothing I love more than admiring the details and embellishments on the works of art that I wear.
I have a lot of young followers, and I try to instill a sense of strength for the next generation, because it's not easy.
It's very important to have visual representation, to show that queers are important, queers are powerful, queers are beautiful, queers are valid, and you can't erase us.
I'm not a trendy person, I don't like to be.
I have a lamp problem. I'm addicted to lamps.
Well, I was raised in the south, so it's like Bible belt vibes. I went to Catholic school, so I had a male uniform my whole life. I always had very specific gender roles with hair and makeup and nails. Every single little aspect of me was gendered and then I was told aesthetically what was allowed per my gender.
I started doing drag as a form of rebellion and expression and then I got attention and it snowballed.
That's what I really love about glamour and drag; it's about celebrating femininity and fun, while being really provocative.
I just love glamour so any time period that had a lot of excess and glamour, I draw inspiration from. All the stuff from the 60s and 70s, very specific times in the 80s.
I just take inspiration from anything that visually stimulates me.
I draw a lot of inspiration from different time periods.
I love burlesque. I'm a decent aerialist. I think I set myself apart visually.
Costuming and clothing plays a really important role in my drag.
There are so many drag queens on 'Drag Race.' In order to have a fulfilling career, you have to do well on the show. You have to make yourself stand out.
I really really love Atlanta. There are tons of amazing artists.
Skincare is a journey for everyone. Everyone's skin is different, so there's no one answer.
You're not alone if you have skin problems or if makeup is irritating you.