The drag artist and burlesque performer is the latest muse to partner with Heretic, a genderless fragrance brand whose scents are made with naturally derived ingredients and do not contain synthetics. Heretic previously unveiled a scent with burlesque star Dita Von Teese. Called Scandalwood, the scent also came in the form of a striptease candle that showed Von Teese in various states of undress.
Today, Heretic launches Dirty Violet, an eau de parfum with notes of, fittingly, violet leaf, jasmine sambac, patchouli, cedarwood and labdanum. The composition, said Chachki, makes for a genderless scent that embodies what she typically gravitates toward.
Chachki’s Heretic campaign shoot was inspired by John Willie, the pseudonym of John Alexander Scott Coutts, a subversive illustrator from the Thirties. Coutts was also the publisher of Bizarre, an underground magazine centering around BDSM and fetish.
Drag queens have long been a wellspring for influence on the beauty industry. Makeup techniques such as contouring, baking and highlighting can all be traced back to the drag community.
A native of Atlanta, Chachki began doing drag to escape the constraints of Catholic school. She spent hours flipping through magazines and scrolling through Tumblr, falling in love with dark-haired beauties like Bettie Page, Vampira and Violet, a character played by Jennifer Tilly in the 1996 queer film Bound. The last of these is where Chachki got her drag name.