Sneak Peek: Interview and Pictures with Violet Chachki – Photographed by Joshua Lawrence

She came through to Finish up as Queen bee in a series full of fashion queens. And Violet Chachki, season seven winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race, has taken to fashion like a supernova that shows no signs of burning out. Talking to her, her eagerness to succeed and incredible knowledge of designer references are more than apparent. Violet — real name Jason Dardo — has charming warmth and humility, coupled with a resolve that matches her talent. When photographer Joshua Lawrence let us know he was going to be photographing Violet, exclusively for Attitude, we jumped at the chance to speak to her for our Style Issue.  She tells us about working with photographer Steven Klein, the scene-stealing finale dress from season eight and that waist.

The full interview is in this month’s Style issue (out now) with more pictures, but here’s a taste for now!

After you won Drag Race, you said in interviews that you wanted to be taken seriously in the fashion industry. Do you think you have achieved that? 

I think that I’ll always be in tune with the fashion world, and always really want to be involved. But having said that, the fashion world is so huge, that unless you’re a supermodel such as Gigi Hadid, it’s difficult to be seen in that way. But I’ve definitely had my taste of the that life and I want more! I’m really hungry for it. I’ve worked with some really amazing people — Pat McGrath, did the make-up for my shoot with Interview Magazine and Vogue Italia. That’s the most fun for me, collaborating with artists and being respected by creative people who have been doing it for a lot longer than I have. In the Nineties, there was a resurgence of models and creative people such as photographers and artist and they are running the scene now. Eventually there will be a new era of artists and I want to be in that wave of people.

You came out on top in a strong season full of fashion queens. Does it help having a group of you making inroads into the industry? 

Absolutely. I think the girls from my season were cast specifically because of their aesthetics, how they presented themselves and the work that goes into that, and it is a friendly and supportive competition. You see your friends and comrades being successful and it motivates you to push yourself and your boundaries more.

Let’s talk about the waist. In terms of training your waist, did you to do a  lot of work or is it a natural thing? 

It’s pretty easy for me because I have a really long torso. If you look at my body, there is a lot of space between my hip bones and my rib cage so it kind of naturally goes in. I’ve been wearing corsets for years. As soon as I started drag, I knew I wanted that Bettie Page-inspired [the pin-up from the 1950s] visual, so I was always synching my waist. The most important thing about corsetry is getting them custom-made to fit you. It’s going to fit better and be more comfortable. The more you wear them, the easier it becomes. I’ve been on tour for four months, so now it’s not a problem. But if I were to take a couple of months off and not wear corsets, it would become more difficult.

You’ve just come off the tour, and the contestants are around each other a lot. Has there been anyone outside of your season who you have become close to? Or is it one big family? 

It’s one big family! If you come for any of us, we will always stick together as a family. You get to know girls from other seasons and they get to know you. You watch them on TV of course but it’s different when you really get to see that person out of their drag character and what they’ve shown on TV. I have come to know Manila [from season three] really well. Of course, you respect everyone’s art but then you get to meet them and you’re like, I really like this person as well as their art. I think there is a sisterhood with everyone. I know it’s so clichéd to say but it’s true. You can especially see that after what happened in Orlando. I was on tour with these girls when it happened and I looked around and was like, “oh my God, these girls are really my family.” It’s powerful and it’s important that we’ve all been through this experience together and that we all have each other’s back, no matter what.