18 Times Famous Clients Called Out Designers For Making Them Feel Awful

The fashion industry can be a very unwelcoming place for anyone who doesn't fit its narrow idea of a "beauty standard." Not even celebrities are safe from the harsh judgment and cruel words of the designers at its helm.

ABC / Via giphy.com

However, this hasn't stopped a lot of celebs and influencers from taking back control by calling out the designers who tried to tear them down.

CBC / Via giphy.com

Here are 18 times celebs, influencers, and stylists called out designers for making them feel awful:

1.After Karl Lagerfeld claimed that Meryl Streep turned down one of his Chanel dresses in favor of a gown she'd been paid to wear to the 2017 Academy Awards, the actor called him out for defamation and said his statement "overwhelm[ed her] appearance at the Oscars, on the occasion of [her] record-breaking 20th nomination."

2.In 2012, after Karl Lagerfeld said that Adele was "a little too fat," the singer told People, "I represent the majority of women, and I'm very proud of that."

3.Early in Zendaya's career, her stylist Law Roach focused on emerging designers instead of big names because "a lot of the [high fashion] houses weren't dressing Black girls."

Thanks to his hard work establishing Zendaya as a fashion icon, now "everybody wants to dress her," but Roach goes back to the high-end labels and says, "Not this season!"

4.When @TheCatWalkItalia posted a collage of Selena Gomez on Instagram in 2018, designer Stefano Gabbana allegedly commented, "She's so ugly," and a few months later, the singer subtly shaded him by wearing a sparkly clip that said, "Ugly."

5.Ahead of the 2019 Grammys, Bebe Rexha posted an Instagram video calling out the designers who "do not want to dress [her] because [she's] too big."

After several designers reached out, the nominee walked the red carpet in a Monsoori gown, jokingly telling those who refused to work with her, "You wish you would've dressed my fat ass!"

6.When a high-end label she purchased a lot from in the past told Dascha Polanco they couldn't dress her because she's "not the sizes [they] have," she said that she "will not give them the pleasure" if they ask to dress her in the future.

7.In 2021, influencer Saucyé West launched the #FightForInclusivity movement, which is "challenging the consumer to take their power back and is asking buyers to boycott a group of popular plus size brands" until they expand their sizing beyond a 4X.

8.At a high-fashion photo shoot in 2019, Jameela Jamil tried on a designer dress that "exploded open on [her] ass," so, addressing the designer on Twitter, she said, "Shame on you, not shame on me. I’m 33 and I’m 5'10.”

9.In 2018, fashion watchdog Instagram account @diet_prada, which is run by Tony Liu and Lindsey Schuyler, called out Dolce & Gabbana for mocking its Chinese consumers "with a parodied vision of what modern China is not...a gag for amusement" in an advertising campaign.

10.During New York Fashion Week in 2017, Ashley Graham expressed her disappointment at the lack of body diversity on the runway, telling Yahoo! Beauty, "I was at [the Fenty show] last night, and that was an amazing show. But how dope would it have been to see some curves on the runway? I think Baja East would be really cool to have curves on the runway. Philipp Plein would be really cool.”

11.Even though she'd wanted to wear a Tarun Tahiliani design to her wedding since she was 12, influencer Dr. Tanaya Narendra (aka Dr. Cuterus) called out his bridal shop in Ambawatta for body shaming her and vowed to "never [go] there again."

12.Early in her modeling career, Gigi Hadid "still had [her] volleyball body," which she loved but designers told her wasn't a "runway body," so they'd only put in her clothes that fully covered her body — until Jean Paul Gaultier.

13.When designers refused to help Leslie Jones find a dress for the Ghostbusters premiere in 2016, she tweeted, "That will change, and I remember everything."

After accepting Siriano's offer to dress her, Jones tweeted, "Hmm, what a difference a tweet makes...Should I name the designers that didn’t look out?"

14.Before the 2019 Emmys, Aidy Bryant called out the designers who refused to provide as many cool options for plus-size people as they did for straight-size people, tweeting that it “seems like a fairly basic request.”

15.In 2013, Nicola Formichetti was tasked with styling Kim Kardashian for an Elle cover shoot, but he had trouble finding designers who were willing to lend him clothes for the shoot because of what he called "fashion snobbery."

16.Designer Maxie James told Paper Mag that in 2014, Michael Costello purchased a dress from her and then tried to pass it off as his own design on Instagram, and when she posted the receipts on her own page, he called her fans racial slurs in the comments.

However, James also said that, when she and Costello ran into each other in a fabric store a year later, he called her a racial slur, accused her of trying to destroy his business, then shattered her phone.

17.After Michael Costello called out Kylie Jenner on Instagram for failing to tag the smaller designers who create custom looks for her, Lala Kent shared a screenshot of his comment on her own story and alleged that he refused to make her wedding dress because she wasn't a "big enough" star.

18.And finally, Leona Lewis alleged on her Instagram story that, after agreeing to dress her for a charity event in 2014, Michael Costello refused to alter a dress to fit her and then failed to show up to her final fitting because he "no longer wanted to dress [her] and he abandoned his commitments to [her] and the show, which made [her] well aware that [she] wasn't the body type required."

After her initial post, Costello reached out to Lewis personally and apologized, so she made another post, saying "Michael, [thank you] for your apology, I wish you healing and that you feel better."