The former Big Brother Naija (BBNaija) housemate, Queen Mercy Atang, has opened up about the inspiration behind her viral bread-themed outfit at the 12th Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA).
The reality TV star attended the event wearing a dress reportedly made from 500 loaves of bread.
Speaking in a recent interview with the BBC, Queen explained that the outfit was designed by Tianah Empire and not by herself, adding that the preparation and fitting process lasted for weeks.
“First of all, I was not the one who made the dress. Tianah Empire, the king of fashion, made it. It is just for me to get the clothes ready to put on,” she said.
“She asked me first to come and fit myself with the dress to look for places that need adjustments. It took weeks to get the dress ready.
“But for me, the weight of the dress almost broke my waist. If you check my back. If you check my back, I have a serious wound there. Because that bread was very heavy. I literally cried while wearing that dress. I first said I needed to catch my breath.
“The first few seconds after wearing the dress, I had to take it off and cried a lot. Then later, I told them I was ready to wear it again.”
Queen disclosed that the bread-inspired outfit was part of a subtle promotional strategy for her business, an idea suggested by her stylist.
She also revealed that she insisted on appearing physically at the event even after the red carpet session had ended because she did not want people to assume the photos were AI-generated.
According to her, she never expected the dress to attract widespread attention online, although she anticipated mixed reactions from the public.
“I did not plan on going for this year’s AMVCA before. I had put down some things I wanted to achieve for my business. AMVCA was not in my dictionary this year,” she said.
“My designer later urged me to go, while I told her to do something simple for me to wear. But she told me I cannot dress simply for the event.
“I wanted to go to the event physically even after the red carpet had closed. I did not want to post the picture online alone, so people would not say it was AI-generated.
“I did not expect my dress to go viral like this. I expected people would have mixed feelings about it. But I noticed that major news outlets reported it.”