Revenge is a dish best served in couture. After hitting out at the designers who wouldn't dress her in a viral video, musician Bebe Rexha showed up to Sunday night's Grammy Awards in a show-stopping red gown.
In an Instagram video that went viral last year, Rexha revealed she and her team had approached several designers ahead of the Grammys, only to be turned down.
She said at the time, “A lot of times artists will go and talk to designers, and they’ll make them custom dresses to walk the red carpet, right? Like, you go to any big designer. 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. Literally, like, I’m too big."
"If a size 6/8 is too big, then I don’t know what to tell you. Then I don’t want to wear your f*cking dresses because that’s crazy ‘cause you’re saying that all the women in the world that are a size 8 and up are not beautiful and they cannot wear your dresses. So to all the people who said I can’t wear your dresses, f*ck you, I don’t want to wear your f*cking dresses.”
After a wave of support from the likes of Demi Lovato and Ne-Yo followed, it was only fitting that Rexha served up a show-stopping look on the night by designer Monsoori, who dressed the star in a long red tiered gown.
Clapping back at the designers who wouldn't dress her in a video filmed by Access, she said “You wish you had dressed my fat *ss.”
Designer August Getty also created two dresses for Rexha to wear at the pre-Grammy gala. This was a full circle moment, as the designer was one of the first to comment on her Instagram video last year in support.
August Getty commented at the time, “You are beautiful! Every woman of every size is beautiful! Just let me know when i should start sketching.”
Rexha posted photos of herself in both outfits on Instagram and wrote a meaningful caption addressed to the designer, saying, “@augustgettyatelier I cannot thank you enough. For loving my body and creating these custom looks for me for such a special week. You are the change the fashion world needs. Love you.”
This isn't the first time a celebrity has revealed designers have refused to dress them due to their size. Model Ashley Graham revealed she was unable to attend the Met Gala in 2016, telling The Cut she “couldn’t get a designer to dress me." Though Graham did attend the Met Gala the following year in a bespoke H&M gown.
Former Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman also previously revealed that her magazine had encountered issues when approaching designers to dress Graham for a photo shoot, saying there were “houses that flatly refused to lend us their clothes”.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s Rachel Bloom has also revealed her struggle getting fashion houses to lend clothes.
She told Wealthsimple, “What also has become apparent when I have to get clothes for these events is that I have a normal body. A lot of fashion houses are reluctant to lend clothes that aren’t in the sample sizes of 0 and 2, so it’s getting harder and harder for me to find clothes without buying them."
She continued, "That’s the whole problem with the fashion industry: My body size is literally normal and healthy, but when you put me next to a model, I look obese.’
