Queen of the Damned

Violet Chachki, reigning champion of RuPaul’s Drag Race, isn’t ready to reveal her Halloween costume just yet. “I don’t want to spoil the surprise!” she says. “I can give you hints though. It’s a Hollywood goth icon…and that’s all I’m gonna tell you.”

Chachki will be performing alongside a dozen or so other Drag Race alums—including winners Raja and Jinkx Monsoon and all-star faves like Willam and Shangela—at Brandon Voss’s fourth annual zombie apocalypse-themed Night of the Living Drag on Friday, October 30. But it’ll be obvious to anyone who saw her on season 7 of the Logo reality series that the hyper-glamorous Chachki isn’t exactly a post-apocalyptic kind of lady.

“I just saw Mad Max and that was inspiring,” she counters. “But…no, I’m not even gonna try to play it off! I’m into glamour and I don’t see a lot of glamour in a post-apocalyptic world.”

Maybe she’s more like one of Immortan Joe’s concubines than Charlize Theron’s Furiosa. “Those are the sex slaves? Yeah! That’s more my brand.”

Still, Chachki thinks any queen worth her spirit gum would do just fine come the zombie apocalypse. “I really think drag queens are some of the strongest people that walk the earth,” she insists. “Bitch, don’t fuck with a drag queen! Transgressive people in general are really powerful and strong.” Forget Michonne’s katana, Violet Chachki could take out a walker with her six-inch stiletto.

She may be keeping mum about her own costume, but Chachki certainly has some opinions about amateurs who might be considering doing drag this Halloween. Her advice for anyone who wants to be Violet Chachki? “I’m a stickler for costumes and for really committing to your look. If they choose my Death Becomes Her look, that waist better be 18 inches!”