The Dress That Changed My Life

RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni Detox recalls the dress that made everyone sit up and take notice.

- Gerald Tan

I wore this dress as my promo look for RuPaul’s Drag Race Season Five—the first time I appeared and competed on the award-winning reality show. It was designed by two Los Angeles-based designers Eddie Debarr and Johnny Sakalis, and together they were known as Debakalis. It was part of their 2012 spring/ summer presentation, which was inspired by a mythical, alien mermaid goddesss that, funnily, was also inspired by me! The designers often lovingly referred to me as their “fish wife”. This particular dress was meant to capture the crashing waves that envelop this mysterious siren creature. There were a ton of other dresses I could’ve chosen but to me, this was it. Here’s a fun fact: The dress was made from one continuous length of 20 yards of stretch satin, and one seam.