Former Big Brother Naija housemate, Queen Mercy Atang, has revealed that the bread-themed dress she wore to this year’s Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA) left her with a severe back injury.
The reality star’s dress went viral after appearing at the event in a gown made from 500 loaves of bread.
Speaking in an interview with BBC News Pidgin recently, Atang credited the concept and execution of the dress to popular fashion designer, Toyin Lawani of Tiannah Empire.
“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 stated.
The celebrity described the outfit as extremely heavy, saying its weight almost broke her waist and left her with a serious injury on her back.
According to Atang, the dress required weeks of preparation and multiple fittings to make.
“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, 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,” she said.
The reality TV star recalled that within seconds of putting on the dress, she removed it and broke down in tears, but later wore it again.
“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,” she added.
Attang explained further that the bread-themed outfit was intended as a subtle promotion for her business, an idea suggested by her stylist, even as she had initially not planned to attend this year’s AMVCA.
“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.
The former BBNaija star confessed that her designer, Toyin Lawani, later convinced her to attend and equally discouraged her from opting for a simple look.
“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.”