After facing backlash, Cardi B explains why she referred to the designer of her voluminous Met Gala dress as “Asian and all” instead of by name.
The “I Like It” rapper, who wore a huge tulle dress from Windowsen's Sensen Lii, said she was very scared when she arrived at the New York event and felt rushed, not remembering her name during a high-profile interview. profile on Monday. .
“First and foremost, when I was on the red carpet, I was very scared,” the Grammy-winning “Bodak Yellow” emcee said in a Instagram story video. “The dress was supposed to be on a little podium and I've been practicing how to pose on the podium. But on the carpet they didn't allow me to get on the podium. “So I had a lot of things on my mind and they took me to the front of the line.”
Cardi said she forgot how to pronounce Lii's name because “her name is a little complicated.”
“I was like, 'Damn.' How do I pronounce her name? My mind was racing,” she added. Noting that she “didn't want to be offensive,” she explained that she said “Asian designer” because she “knew the designer was Asian, but she wasn't sure of her nationality.”
Cardi B, who also wore a towering black turban, mistakenly named her designer in an interview with Vogue on Monday. The dress was so enormous that at least seven caregivers were required to accompany the rapper, who said the dress was heavier than her and so large that it gave her a headache and nausea.
“It's work,” she told Vogue's Emma Chamberlain, adding, “I feel amazing. It's this amazing designer. “They’re Asian and all that.”
Lii was born in China, has workshops in Shanghai and Paris and is now based in Antwerp, Belgium. The designer is known for his clubwear aesthetic and theatrical style, and his work has been worn by Madonna, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Blackpink, Doja Cat, FKA Twigs and Grimes, as well as prominent Chinese actor Fan Bingbing, who He was one of the first to support it. , according to Business of Fashion.
The former CEO of Vogue, Gilbert Cheah, who is Peranakan (of Chinese and Malay-Indonesian descent), was among those who criticized the “Hustlers” star online, writing on Instagram: “For the record and recognition, and no thanks to Cardi B, the designer of her dress is Sensen. Lii, who is Chinese. The dress took two months to make. Personally I think it's boring and doesn't even match the theme, but she chose it and at least she should have remembered her name and not just that it's 'Asian.'”
Cardi B continued her mea culpa in a separate Instagram Story post, giving another shout-out to design house Windowsen, which she said she chose for its “incredible talent.”
“You really managed to make this Met Gala a night to remember Sensen Lii,” the “WAP” and “Up” lyricist wrote. Lii reposted her story on Wednesday thanking him as well.
In a post on Windowsen's Instagram, the designer wrote that he created the couture dress for Cardi to build on this year's “Garden of Time” theme for the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute's annual fundraiser.
“It associated the fertile and vast black land with the theme: All kinds of beautiful flowers grow in the vast black land, a rich land that is used to plant crops and flowers. A single black rose grows in this vast black soil,” Lii said. “The entire dress uses almost 3,000 meters of organza. “It symbolizes the immensity of the earth.”
The comments against Cardi B took root in the comments section of Lii's post, although some turned the debacle into a fruitful PR moment.
“Why did you dress up this idiot who didn't even know who you were!!!!!” wrote one user in the comments section.
“AND NOT KNOWING YOUR NAME IS CRAZY,” wrote another.
“His mistake ended up being a blessing. Look how many people know your name now!!! People on the positive side….The positive side!!!” wrote a third.
“Honestly, the fact that he forgot probably got him more publicity than if he had said the name in the first place. Angry comments generate views, visits and engagement…she knew what she was doing,” another user added.
