Like so many queer kids before her and so many since, Violet Chachki noticed the rigours of gendered indoctrination young. Leaning towards drag, Chachki says, was “escapism, yes, but also therapy”.

Yet Chachki has not forgotten her roots. While in London, for a burlesque residency at the fabulous Mayfair jazz-age seafood joint, The Maine, she fully intends to catch the Leigh Bowery exhibit at ...