The 2018 Grammys gave us look after look of show-stopping fashionable moments, but no one turned heads more than singer Joy Villa’s “Choose Life” gown as she sauntered down the red carpet.
Walking out onto the red carpet, Villa’s white Pronovias bridal gown had a hand painting of a red fetus, encircled by rainbow hues and matched with her handbag clutch that read, “Choose Life.” Oh, and let’s not forget the tiara.
Villa is not new to the scene of disrupting and shaking the political table at awards show.
Just last year at the Grammys, she wore the now infamous “Make America Great” dress designed by Filipino immigrant André Soriano. If anyone questions if fashion can also be politically fueled, Villa’s outfits certainly support that claim.
“I’m a pro-life woman,” she told Fox News on her dress of choice. “This year I chose to make a statement on the red carpet like I always do[…]I am totally for President Trump, and it’s only been one year. I can’t wait for the next seven years!” However, many were left to wonder just how sensitive was her message, given the rocky discussions that circle around abortion laws in the United States and the ever-timely #TimesUp happening within Hollywood. Furthermore, Joy herself is a survivor of sexual assault but didn’t even use her platform to stand in solidarity for other survivors (many who wore white roses on the red carpet as their own political statement).
According to Villa, her gown was purchased from Bridal Garden, a non-profit bridal shop that donates all proceeds to Brooklyn Charter for “talented, underprivileged, mostly minority children.”
And while many took personal issue with the dress for its insensitivity, Villa felt the need to explain her message was coming from a place of love and hope:
“I believe in loving the child and the mother, and I am proudly #ProLife. There is so much pain out there, but I choose to spread love and hope,” she wrote on Instagram. “I hand painted my @pronovias gown with a hand-painted (by me) recreation of my daughter portrait I painted in 2007 at 20 years old 8 months pregnant with my beautiful daughter, whom I adopted out to a wonderful family.”
“I’m incredibly blessed to have given life, and I hope to encourage anyone in a similar situation to choose adoption,” she continued.
It seems…questionable that Villa had the opportunity to use her fashionable choice to make a political statement in support of #TimesUp as a woman who is publicly open about sexual harassment, but instead chose to make a statement regarding abortion on a night geared toward celebrating good music and progression of the culture.
What are your thoughts on Joy’s dress? Take our poll and let us know if it’s HAUTE or NAUGHT!
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