During the last episode of Drag Race All Stars, Gottmik’s look, inspired by Edvard Munch’s The Scream, left us all gagged. We speak to the man behind the crystals, the one and only Disco Daddy
Few things leave RuPaul speechless, but when drag queen Gottmik came down the RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars runway last week, Mama Ru’s jaw nearly grazed the judging table. Tasked with the theme ‘Paint Ball’, Gottmik wore a floor-skimming gown encrusted top-to-toe in crystals depicting Norwegian artist Edvard Munch’s The Scream. The man behind the gag-worthy look was none other than Vincent Braccia, better known as Disco Daddy. The go-to guy for meticulous crystal work, Disco Daddy has hand-crafted memorable looks for everyone from Madonna to Dua Lipa to former Vogue Scandinavia cover star Zara Larsson.
Creating this moment in Drag Race (art) history was no small feat; the gown took Disco Daddy and his team about 1,000 hours to hand-apply 500,000 crystals to finish the look. “From start to finish we had about three weeks to complete the gown and we used every possible second,” says Disco Daddy. “I really wanted the gown to resemble a piece of wearable art and not just clothing, so I had to make sure all the seams disappeared by lining the pattern up perfectly.”
Photo: Albert Sanchez and Pedro Zalba
Photo: Albert Sanchez and Pedro Zalba
Inspired by a Balenciaga silhouette, the result is a body-hugging glimmering fantasy, one that both respects the indelible artwork it references and showcases the artistry of Disco Daddy. “The most difficult aspect of the process was the challenge of carefully rearranging elements of the original painting so that it would exaggerate the contours of Gottmik's body while also staying true to Munch's original artistry,” says Disco Daddy.
Having met after Gottmik’s original Drag Race run on season 13, Disco Daddy and Gottmik always knew they’d share a major fashion moment somewhere down the line. “Gottmik's sense of artistry and attention to detail is very similar to my own, so I knew we would be able to make something stunning together,” says Disco Daddy. Once the queen was cast on All Stars, they knew the moment had come. Considering a few different runway options, they quickly settled on the Paint Ball. “Just as a painter would use acrylics to highlight, blend and shade, I use crystals,” says Disco Daddy, noting that he’s studied art from a young age. "I keep the components of fine art as the foundation for all my work, and I always push myself to take my crystal work to the next level.”
Still, this marked the first time Disco Daddy directly referenced a painting in his work. It was Gottmik who selected The Scream because it is, as Disco Daddy puts it, “both easily recognisable and not over-referenced”. “The stone work by Disco Daddy is the most sparkly thing I’ve ever seen in my life I could shed a tear,” says Gottmik in voice over as she glides down the runway. For Disco Daddy, seeing his creation featured on his favourite show was “truly an honour”. “I made the piece last year so I had to sit with the anticipation this whole time, but the wait was definitely worth it,” he says.
As for Ru, she recovered in time to make a clever quip about the look: “Well, the scream always rises to the top”.