When the author Aurielle Marie discovered that they have been included within the Out 100 listing, they have been thrilled. As a part of the honour, Marie, whose pronouns are they/she, was invited to attend Out Journal’s gala in New York.
The issue? They couldn’t discover something to put on to the occasion. Though the vast majority of American girls put on sizes 14 or above, Marie mentioned, many shops inventory solely sizes 12 and underneath.
They mentioned the robes they did discover of their dimension have been both matronly or cheesy. Regardless of options from their pals, their mom and their spouse, Marie “simply didn’t like something.”
“I used to be like, what do I wish to appear to be? How do I wish to really feel? And I ended up on this photograph of Lizzo. She wore this costume as she accepted her first Emmy,” mentioned Marie, who wrote the critically acclaimed poetry assortment “Gumbo Ya Ya” in 2020 and has been well known for writing about fatphobia, Blackness and queer identification. “The costume was voluminous. It took up house. It was horny, however it wasn’t overtly horny, … I used to be like, I wish to really feel like this.”
Marie doesn’t contemplate themself “a type of individuals who have a bizarre parasocial attachment to celebrities.” However they admire Lizzo, they mentioned, not just for her music but in addition for persevering with to exude confidence regardless of the immense backlash she will get.
So, after having struggled to discover a pink carpet outfit, they turned to TikTok — the place that they had solely a few hundred followers — to ask Lizzo whether or not they might borrow one among her outfits.
“I do know you understand how it feels to be the largest … in a room and all of the scrutiny and hyper-visibility that comes with that,” Marie mentioned within the TikTok video. “As a result of I’ve watched you discuss it and the audacity that you simply’ve marked in your profession has helped me step out and be audacious myself. … I gotta ask. Can I please, please, please put on your costume from the 2022 Emmys?”
Marie was referring to the pink tulle robe by designer Giambattista Valli, which Lizzo wore when she accepted the award for excellent competitors program for her present “Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Massive Grrrls.”
With the gala rapidly approaching, Marie — who bought married final month — mentioned they have been able to re-wear their wedding ceremony costume to the gala. They did not anticipate Lizzo to reply.
However their plea went viral. Not lengthy after the video was posted, somebody from Lizzo’s administration group reached out. Marie mentioned they initially thought the DM was a prank. The particular person wrote that Lizzo had seen Marie’s video and handed it alongside to her managers, instructing them to ship Marie one among her robes.
“Apparently the costume that I really like from the Emmys this yr was in shambles as a result of everybody saved stepping on Lizzo’s practice,” Marie mentioned. “So she [the manager] mentioned, ‘However we discovered one which’s actually related.’”
Marie mentioned Lizzo’s supervisor provided them the magenta tulle robe that was custom-made for Lizzo’s 2019 American Music Awards efficiency.
It was “very related in one of the best methods,” Marie mentioned, and it arrived simply in time — the robe was delivered 20 minutes earlier than they needed to go away for his or her flight from Atlanta to New York.
When the zipper malfunctioned, Marie mentioned, Lizzo’s group even despatched a seamstress to their New York lodge to repair the costume in time for the gala.
“You possibly can ship me a paper bag and say Lizzo wore this at a photograph shoot and I’d have worn it on the pink carpet at that time,” Marie mentioned. “However when she [Lizzo’s manager] mentioned, ‘I feel we will get a seamstress to your lodge,’ and I used to be like, ‘I’m sorry, what?’ I didn’t even know there was a VIP seamstress market.”
Marie mentioned that, apart from Lizzo’s generosity, they’ve a deep appreciation for her as a result of she “navigates audaciously in a physique that so many individuals have anger for.”
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They described Lizzo as one of many first celebrities to unapologetically exist in a fats physique.
Marie believes their expertise, whereas “healthful,” highlights the fatphobia ingrained in society, from medical discrimination to the restricted choices for size-inclusive clothes. They mentioned they do not see many individuals “being form to fats individuals who aren’t well-known.”
“This can be a heartwarming story, and I really like that for me. However I’d like it much more if individuals took one thing like this and have been in a position to see the humanity in individuals with our bodies which might be completely different,” Marie mentioned. “I shouldn’t must ask Lizzo for a cute costume.”
