This vendible was originally published on July 13, 2022 and has been updated.
To simply undeniability Violet Chachki the winner of RuPaul’s Stilt Race season seven is a severe understatement. Yes, it may be where she got her start when in 2015, but since then, she has outgrown the franchise (sorry, Ru!) and found fame on a global scale. The glamazon is part model, part performer, part artist, part muse and 100 per cent herself at all times, as I discovered when we chatted on the phone. She is not wrung to undeniability it as she sees it, hence her Queen B reputation. But in our conversation, I see the true Violet doesn’t take herself too seriously.
Because of her rented schedule, we weren’t worldly-wise to Zoom, but if we had, I imagine I would’ve been treated to an outfit of epic proportions. Her combination of old Hollywood glamour and femme fatal fetishism has earned her a spot amongst the malleate glitterati. Besides stuff a front-row fixture at malleate week, Chachki was the first overly stilt queen to front a lingerie wayfarers in 2017. She gave Marilyn Monroe a run for her money in Prada’s Fall 2018 film. She’s walked myriad runways, including Moschino’s and Richard Quinn’s. And she’s one of the select few who have descended the Met Gala steps in full drag. Not only that but she’s moreover dipped her toe into the beauty, fragrance and music worlds and recently collaborated with Canada’s own Allie-X on a single.
In honour of her “A Lot Increasingly Me” tour coming to Canada (tickets for which are now on sale), starting in Montreal on July 22, FASHION chatted with Violet Chachki well-nigh her upcoming performances, the newest season of Drag Race, and owning who she really is.
I would be remiss if I first didn’t ask you well-nigh RuPaul’s Stilt Race All Stars 7, the franchise’s latest season where previous show winners come when to compete for the ultimate crown. As the winner of season seven, did you overly get the call, and did you want to get the call?
For a minute, I wanted to get the call, but my opinion on whether I would unquestionably go when on the show changes weekly. Sometimes I think, “Oh, it’d be so fun,” and other times I’m like, “That gives me so much uneasiness and veritably not” [laughs]. So my thoughts on stuff in an all-winners season constantly change.
In the online series Fashion Photo RuView, you and Gottmik critique the runway looks from the latest season of Drag Race. Recently, Raja’s (the season three winner and renowned “fashion queen”) fans have come without you for your negative reviews of some of her outfits. What is your take on the situation?
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I love Raja! She’s definitely an icon but [this whole situation] is just so funny. I think fans singled her out considering she was the one that started the show Fashion Photo RuView in 2014, and then [I came on] critiquing her, but that’s the whole point of the series! Many fans are pretty young and just really tying to these queens. So when someone comes in and critiques them, plane if it is their job, people can get upset well-nigh it. I mean, I tried to be pearly with all of my criticism, and it’d be wearisome [if I said] everyone was unconfined or bad the whole time. All the queens have their moments, and at the end of the day, it’s just one opinion, and it’s just clothes. Don’t get me wrong, I love malleate and drag, but let’s be real here: we’re just playing dress-up. There are so many increasingly important things going on right now.
So what are you looking for when you toot or marching an outfit?
There’s just so much stilt now that it’s wilt saturated, so it’s getting harder and harder every year [to stand out]. There’s a lot of mediocre and copycat stilt out there. So for me, I’m looking for something I haven’t seen before. I want to see who pushes the art form in a new direction.
You had such an impact on the malleate in Drag Race. How do you think stilt malleate has reverted over the years?
I think many variegated people have helped shift what stilt malleate is and what it could be. Sharon Needles [the winner of season four] really shook up what it could be. And then Raja took the show in a malleate direction, and yeah, I think I helped shift it as well. In those early seasons, everyone was so different, unique and specific to where they came from in the country. But now it feels like all the queens [on the newer seasons] are blending into one another. Everything is so self-referential and has wilt scrutinizingly like a parody of itself.
Drag queens have been taking the malleate industry by storm. What do you think has spurred this takeover? Considering it feels like they have wilt fashion’s new muses.
I think stilt and malleate have unchangingly influenced each other. Malleate is well-nigh conviction and creation, and that’s what stilt is well-nigh too. But I don’t know if I’d undeniability it a takeover. There are designers like Richard Quinn and Jean-Paul Gaultier who have unchangingly represented the community, and there are others who never have and never will.
You once told Vogue that you’ve unchangingly thought of malleate as a language. Can you expand on that and how it applies to your style?
I think of malleate like armour. I love using gown to say something without speaking, and I think it’s true that a picture is worth a thousand words. You can use suit to take up space, get sustentation and plane hide. A good example is without I won Drag Race, I was getting so much criticism for things that I’m not: “she’s not an actor,” “she’s not a comedian,” “she’s not as talented as so-and-so.” So when I came when [for the season eight finale] to pass the crown down, I wanted to make a statement saying a big f*ck you to everybody who was so hair-trigger of me. I wanted it to be scrutinizingly scary how regal and royal I looked. I had a prosthetic crown growing out of my head, and I think it worked really well. It was just such a powerful message without saying anything.
You’re pretty famous for your corsets, and now the rest of the world has unprotected up. What do you think is the eternal request of the corset, and what’s the craziest one you’ve overly worn?
Some people think corsets are just well-nigh stuff skinny, but that’s not what draws me to them. I love the lattermost silhouette they create, the artistry of how they’re made and all the time that goes into making one. The smallest corset I’ve overly worn was probably the 18- or 19-inch corset I wore on the show. It was for the “Death Becomes Her” runway challenge, so I was really going for it. We had to walk the runway twice, so I went virtually once and then I had to take a unravel considering it was honestly a health concern.
And on Instagram, you’ve teased a lot of costumes with corsets for your “Violet Chachki Presents A Lot Increasingly Me” tour. What can fans expect from the show?
Well, the show quite literally ways me taking tenancy over my career. I’ve wanted to do a show like this for so long, and I named it “A Lot Increasingly Me” because, without years of stuff wrapped up in Drag Race and touring with other people, I finally get to do my solo show and do something that is totally me, my vision and my style of drag. And I think people can expect truly the most produced solo touring stilt show that’s overly happened. I mean, so much production goes into this show, from the costumes to the music to visuals to the well-ventilated performances. It’s a drag, vaudeville, circus and malleate show all in one. It’s a well-constructed labour of love, and it’s just well-nigh me coming into my own, owning my star power and showcasing the kind of stilt I love.
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