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From the ingredients they share to the rich cultures they reflect, the worlds of beauty and food — and the people who merge them — are in constant conversation. Welcome to Well Fed, a column that celebrates how we nourish our bodies, from face to plate. In this first edition, Todd Haim opens up about his extravagant alter ego, his shellfish-themed manicures, and why he'll never shave his beard to do drag.
When I meet Todd Haim over oysters and dirty martinis at Cervo's, a mutual downtown haunt, there's a third party there in spirit: Steak Diane, Haim's cocktail-swilling, crustacean-loving alter ego. Her entire essence is based in extravagance, and though you won't find her dancing on stage, her lust-worthy tablescapes, made-to-order diningwear, and content creations on Instagram are their own form of performance art.
"I've always considered her as a sort of grand New York hostess," said Haim of his drag persona. "She's a little bit older, she's maybe once divorced. She's got a piano lounge singer vibe, and she could honestly be like 50. I've never said that before, but she could be!" Steak Diane is the manifestation of Haim's of-the-moment passion for seafood towers, sewing experience, and a social post after the 2016 election.
"I had been Jackie Kennedy for Halloween that year; I made the pink suit. I made a video on election day, and after [Clinton's loss], I just feel like people on Instagram really responded to it," Haim recalls. "It felt like such a time where making people laugh felt so important, so I just went from there."
Jun Lu / @hellojunlu
Instagram became a boon for both Haim's creativity and business during COVID stay-at-home orders: After designing fancy face masks early in the pandemic, Haim honed in on his drag persona's essence. His Instagram is now a scrollable ode to indulgence high and low as seen through the eyes of Steak Diane. One moment he's romping in a fountain wearing an ass-length wig (red, of course) like life is an in-color Fellini movie, and the next, he's one-handing a black-and-white cookie, a paper cup of Zabar's coffee, and a cigarette. His digital mood board is covered in plate porn from his usual haunts (mostly NYC classics, like The Odeon and Fanelli Cafe) and doctored shots of iconic hostesses like Martha Stewart and Ina Garten. It also showcases his collaborations with some of the most of-the-moment brands. Haim has worked with Susan Alexandra and though Steak Diane doesn't perform in conventional drag shows, she's created tablescapes for Parade and donned a ultra-extra branded dress to shoot content with Aperol.
Haim says that home textiles seemed like organic, logical next step in his — and Steak Diane's — career. Haim grew up in Iowa, the son of a home economics teacher who taught him how to sew — unknowingly stitching the threads of his future gig — and to eat, with unironic abandon. "The best way I can describe growing up in a small town is that it was so camp," he says. "My parents had cocktail parties with cheese balls and little smokies, grape jelly and shrimp cocktail towers. [That's why] my food sensibility was always so campy, and that's just informed everything I've done since then." So in 2021, Haim's entertainment-inspired design brand Chez Diane was born.
The brand's first collection is a stitched manifestation of Haim's relationship with food and drag: but with a metropolitan tilt: think a curated selection of cigarette-embroidered ashtrays, gingham placemats covered in mussels, striped lobster bibs, and the like, all modeled by Steak.
Chez Diane
Chez Diane
Chez Diane
Chez Diane
Now living in Brooklyn, Haim can often be spotted with a dirty martini and fries at his old standbys. But this year, the city's ever-changing menus have taken him right back home to the heartland. "It's all retro food. New York food camp feels like it's always referencing Iowa food camp, like deviled eggs or ham salad. I feel like that's just so cyclical, and it's always funny to see those things like that." That applies to beauty trends too, he feels, particularly ones rooted in drag. "There's such a difference between seeing an image on a social platform then emulating it and actually discovering that film or pop culture moment and experiencing it. Being well versed in your references is so important in the drag world," he notes.
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That's one reason why, as Chez Diane grew, Haim enlisted New York City-based makeup artist Will Sullivan to take Steak Diane's look up a notch. It turns out that Haim is, admittedly, not at all skilled at applying makeup. "Most queens do their own painting, but I cannot do makeup to save my life. I try to put a brow on sometimes and it just looks like I got ahold of a crayon," he admits. One thing he can manage, though: his shellfish-adjacent manicure.
"I always handle my nails. I was such an Essie Clambake girl, but then it started becoming hard to find, so I switched to OPI's Cajun Shrimp."
Jun Lu / @hellojunlu
Whether she's double-fisting spritzes or baring it all behind a pile of ice and shucked scallops, Steak Diane's fiery beard is arguably her most defining feature. Haim's by-day facial hair has become one way he explores his own personal brand of drag.
"It's just what I've done from the beginning; I've just always kept my beard — and it matches the red wig. I really appreciate that it's sort of genderfuck drag," explains Haim. "I think that's a fun space to be in because it's confusing. I'm so impressed by drag queens that just are full-fish and totally transformed. I'm like, 'How do you do that?' But that's just so not my drag, and I appreciate that it's more confusing." Haim's questioned that stance before, but one iconic drag moment keeps him confident in his look of choice.
"I've just always kept my beard—and it matches my red wig. I really appreciate that it's sort of genderfuck drag."
"I've had moments where I'm like, 'Should I fully shave and do a full face of makeup?' But then I think about that Queen video with Freddie Mercury vacuuming in a wig, and that's just so perfect. So I'm sticking with that, full speed ahead."
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"I love to fuck with gender," agrees Sullivan, explaining how Haim's beard only makes his transformation more beautiful. "There are lots of beautiful women with full beards, so I even try to emphasize the beard and the beauty of it."
Jun Lu / @hellojunlu
A bold red lip look is one way Sullivan brings Haim's facial hair front and center during photo shoots, which they create by layering MAC Cosmetics Lip Pencil in Redd and Formula Z 4Ever Lips in Alcone Red. When paired with Glossier Cloud Paint and Maybelline New York TattooStudio Brow Pomade, the payoff — "late-stage Lucille Ball," as Haim describes it — is singular and Steak-specific. The process, though, always begins with a drag staple: face tapes. "They just give the face such a feminine pull to them, and so I use those as the base for every single thing that we do," says Sullivan.
Courtesy of brand
Haim says he finds a level of self-care through this glamorous aesthetic. "At the end of the day, I think life is so short, which is why I'm so incredibly about indulgence," he says, noting that he knows that point of view is a privileged one. "That's a complicated space and that is a complicated thing to say. But indulgence doesn't just apply to eating for me, necessarily." That said, Chez Diane's forthcoming fall collection is inspired by — you heard it here first — breakfast in bed, one of Haim's favorite methods of treating himself.
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"I'm so about indulgence and I like projecting that, and for me, that's so connected to breakfast," he explains. "I'm such a supporter of taking that time. I think it's something that gets thrown by the wayside, especially in New York. That's why I'm trying to have this collection really about the indulgence of taking that time." The theme will rest in the down-feathers of a glamorous five-star hotel bed, with references to room service, fluffy robes, and in true Steak fashion, lots of gingham.
Jun Lu / @hellojunlu
"I love when you fill something out the night before about what you want and they bring it at a certain time; I'm such a toast and jam girl. I want a pot of coffee that you can keep pouring in your cup and take your time with," he muses. Another hotel-centric moment of calm for Haim is bath time.
"I take a bath every day, and I love when I travel somewhere where there's an amazing tub; you basically just can't get me out of there. I usually switch between Susanne Kaufmann's oil, which looks like it has a sprig of rosemary in it, or Buly 1803's bath salts that smell like moss and patchouli. That's my bath time moment, and I always have a cocktail in the tub." (Seasonal, of course: a Manhattan or negroni in the fall, and in the summer heat, a "water beer" like Miller High Life.)
Courtesy of brand
Even in his own apartment, Haim invests in products that are as aesthetically-pleasing as they are functional. "I feel like it's a splurge, but I always buy a Buly toothbrush because they're so beautiful," he swoons. "I always get the Buly hand cream, too; it's the most beautiful thing. My boyfriend has a design company, and so we're just both very visual aesthetic people. So yes, we put up shelves in our bathroom, but we're about them looking beautiful. Everything in our apartment is on display."
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That's really the essence of Steak Diane, though: Indulgence wherever she can find it, even if it's a toothbrush.
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