Quotes from Violet Chachki

I've traveled to the most glamorous places in the world, the biggest capitals of culture, and I've traveled to the biggest fuddy-duddy, slum life nowheresvilles... so I've seen a ton of stuff. I've been physically attacked at a McDonald's in Perth, Australia, in full drag.

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.

I'm not a trendy person, I don't like to be.

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.

My solo show, 'A Lot More Me,' is part drag show, part burlesque show, part circus show, and part fashion show.

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.

I have a lamp problem. I'm addicted to lamps.

I had always watched HGTV with my mom when I was very young, we would cuddle and watch interior design shows. I think those TV shows are what made me start thinking about aesthetics in a critical way. I think I could always tell when a person or an item was different or expensive or well designed and that was always exciting to me to see.

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.'

It feels like a lot of times when I'm watching people perform, they're just going through the motions and checking boxes. Costume - good, hair - good, make-up - good, death drop - good; it's like they're just going through a checklist of what makes a 'good performance' but it's not entertaining, it's very disposable.

If you were supposed to be a drag queen, and that's what you wanted to do, you'd be doing it already, you wouldn't be in my DMs asking me how to do so. When I started I was ugly, but I didn't think I was ugly. You have to not dream it, but be it - that's it.

The costume world - whether it be movies, television or drag - and the fashion world have this weird, ugly stepsister, love/hate relationship. I'm somewhere stuck in the middle of it, and it's so much fun.

A reveal should be unexpected and clever.

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.

I think I always knew aesthetically what excited me the most, and I think I was always looking for that aesthetic in other people and it didn't really happen. I decided to take it upon myself to be the change I wanted to see in nightlife.

I feel like I have a legacy that I've built. I feel like I've made my little notch in history.

It's easier when you're just upfront with somebody. You can just learn and grow from it.

I just take inspiration from anything that visually stimulates me.

I've always really loved cinematography and glamorous old Hollywood movies and they go hand in hand.

Showing variety in representation in casting is super important, it gives minorities a platform and I think it definitely creates a safe space for conversation and progress.

I've always been into subcultures. In the '50s and '60s, what Pierre Molinier was doing was super subculture - he was taking self-portraits, it was very private, very intimate. I think that's actually how I started my drag - in my bedroom, taking MacBook self-portraits.

I've always been interested in androgyny and a lot of my work explores gender identity.

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.

My drag character is very dominant and domineering, and that's a quality that I am inspired by.