Former Big Brother Naija housemate Queen Mercy Atang has opened up about the experience behind her viral bread dress worn to the 12th edition of the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards, revealing that the outfit left her with a serious back injury.
The reality star made headlines after appearing at the event in a gown reportedly constructed from 500 loaves of bread.
Speaking in an interview with BBC News Pidgin on Friday, Atang clarified that she was not responsible for creating the dress, crediting fashion designer Toyin Lawani of Tiannah Empire for the concept and execution.
“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 said.
Atang described the outfit as extremely heavy, saying its weight almost broke her waist and left her with a severe wound on her back.
According to her, the dress required weeks of preparation and multiple fittings to perfect.
“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. 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.
She recalled that within seconds of putting on the dress, she had to remove it and break down in tears before later gathering herself to wear 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.
The former BBNaija star explained that the bread-themed outfit was intended as a subtle promotion for her business, an idea suggested by her stylist.
She added that she had initially not planned to attend this year’s AMVCA, as she was focused on business goals and preferred a simple outfit for the event.
“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.
According to Atang, her designer later convinced her to attend and discouraged her from opting for a minimalist look.
Despite arriving after the red carpet session had ended, she insisted on showing up physically at the event to avoid claims that the viral photos were artificially generated.
“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,” she added.
Atang said she did not anticipate the dress would generate widespread attention, though she expected mixed reactions.
“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”, she concluded.
