The 2019 Grammy Awards are extra-special for singer Bebe Rexha. The pop star is nominated for Best New Artist and Best Country Duo/Group Performance, but as she gets ready for her big night she’s discovering that finding the perfect red carpet dress may be harder than snagging those nominations.
The “I’m a Mess” singer, 29, voiced her frustrations with the dress-finding process on Instagram, explaining that a number of designers she was hoping would dress her for her big night are unwilling to because of her size.
“So I finally get nominated at the Grammys and it’s like the coolest thing ever,” Rexha starts by saying in her Instagram video. “And a lot of times artists will go and talk to designers and they’ll make them custom dresses to walk the red carpet. So I had my team hit out a lot of designers and a lot of them do not want to dress me because I’m too big.”
Rexha, who wears a size 6-8, defended herself, and all women who wear a size 8 and up, in the second half of her video. “You’re saying all the women in the world that are a size 8 and up are not beautiful and that they cannot wear your dresses. So to all the people who said I’m thick and I can’t wear your dress, f—k you, I don’t want to wear your f—g dresses.”
In the caption of her Instagram video, she clapped back at any designers unwilling to create options for all woman. “If you don’t like my fashion style or my music that’s one thing. But don’t say you can’t dress someone that isn’t a runway size. Empower women to love their bodies instead of making girls and women feel less then by their size. We are beautiful any size! Small or large!”
The dress designer August Getty responded to her Instagram post and offered to make her a gown for the Grammys. “You are beautiful! Every woman of every size is beautiful! Just let me know when I should start sketching.”
A similar experience recently happened to the 2019 Screen Actors Guild Awards host, Megan Mullally. She revealed on social media that she’ll be finding her own red carpet dress without the help of a stylist and won’t be relying on free designer gowns either.
“Looks like i will be buying my dress online though, as per my usual, even though there is literally a 100 percent chance that i will be on camera, because I’M HOSTING IT,” Mullally captioned a photo of herself on the red carpet. “Designers do not send me dresses.”
“I’m online scrolling through the gowns sections of various websites- which i know how to do pretty well at this point- and then i tried to order something from saks fifth avenue and they cancelled my order oh, the glamor of it all,” she wrote.
Designer Marc Bouwer offered to create a custom dress for Mullally (at a cost) and designer Christian Siriano commented on Mullally’s photo writing, “I would love to dress you!”
Time will tell whether Rehxa (or Mullally) get custom creations for the carpet.
