Celebrities have been more vocal than ever about the realities of red carpet dressing, especially when it comes to finding gowns outside of the sample size range. Everyone from Bryce Dallas Howard to Rebel Wilson to Leslie Jones have talked about the struggle, but one of the early stars who opened up was Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s Rachel Bloom.
Bloom revealed on the 2017 Emmy Awards red carpet that she bought her black Gucci gown herself and in her new interview for Allure.com’s fall digital cover story, she revealed that she didn’t know she was “supposed to” keep it a secret.
“Because unbeknownst to me at the time, which I know more now, you don’t admit to buying dresses — because it means no one would loan a dress, right?” she tells the publication, noting that there’s a weird paradox to the concept. “People who are earning the most money are supposed to not pay for their dresses — and that’s capitalism. People are rewarded for being already rewarded.”
Her viral red carpet interview at the Emmys lead to the bigger discussion going on in the industry about the lack of size-inclusive dressing. “When you have curves or a different body type, suddenly the canvas gets bumpy, and so you have to adapt,” Bloom said. “For me, that would sound fascinating if I were designing clothes.”
During her interview she also talked about the fact that perceived beauty is used as a measure of value in Hollywood, a construct she hopes will eventually be turned on its head. “We don’t measure men by that. We measure women by that, and that’s the male gaze,” she said.
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She goes on to explain her sometimes-complicated relationship with beauty, saying she was raised by parents who didn’t care how they looked. “I like wearing pretty clothes and I like putting on makeup for me — is there a part in there that’s the male gaze? F—ing probably.”
