Doja Cat has revealed whether there are any red carpet outfits she looks back on with regret while reflecting on some of her most memorable fashion moments.
The “Vegas” singer, 27, shared her candid thoughts about some of her past looks while playing a game of “Smash or Pass” with Variety. During the interview, Doja Cat, whose real name is Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini, was asked to reveal whether she still approves of certain red carpet looks, or whether they’ve become a “pass” in her eyes.
Although the rapper described most of her outfits as a “smash,” she revealed that there was one look that didn’t go over well with her friends, a Thom Browne dress she wore during the 2021 MTV VMAs.
Doja Cat, who made multiple wardrobe changes during the awards show, wore the blue, yellow and green statement dress, which surrounded her head, to accept the VMA award for Best Collaboration for “Kiss Me More” with SZA.
At the time, the singer had joked about her outfit, telling the audience: “I look like a worm. That’s dope. I never thought I’d be dressed as a worm while accepting an award.”
While reflecting on the outfit with Variety, Doja Cat revealed that she still considers the dress a “smash,” but that her friends don’t agree.
“Big Thom Browne smash. My friends like to make fun of me for that dress, but they don’t mean it,” she revealed, adding: “It’s more like a piece of art.”
According to Doja Cat, she’d decided on the outfit because she’d wanted to do “major,” “wacky,” “zany,” “fun and silly things” that day.
“It felt very iconic and camp and dramatic and nice,” she added.
During the interview, the singer-songwriter also praised some of the other over-the-top looks she wore during the 2021 MTV VMAs, such as an oversized salmon blazer that she’d paired with chicken feet-inspired boots and an orange top hat, and which she described as a “big smash”.
“[It’s giving] Willy Wonka and the chicken factory,” she said while admiring the look. “It’s an inventive look - like I was channeling Pharrell in a funny way. “The shoes were not too hard to walk in.”
There were also a few outfits that Doja Cat revealed she is less fond of, such as a purple outfit she wore in 2014 to the pre-Grammy party, which she described as a “hard, aggressive pass”. According to the record producer, the look is a pass because she’d styled it. “That was all me,” she explained. “All of those looks that I’ve done myself have just been like: ‘Yeah, God help us all.’”
Doja Cat also passed on the sheer bodysuit bedazzled with crystals that she wore to the Adult Video News Awards in 2020. “That’s a hard pass,” she said, adding that she and stylist Brett Alan Nelson are both passing as “aggressively as possible”.
According to Doja Cat, her distaste of the outfit has nothing to do with the designers of the look, but rather her “input,” as she noted that she’d requested her backside be “contoured” with crystals.
“It looks like I have a hairy a** and we didn’t really see that coming,” she said.
As for her “favourite” red carpet look of all time, Doja Cat revealed it was the black Schiaparelli gown with a beige tulle train she wore to the 2022 Billboard Music Awards.
“This is my favourite carpet look of all time. This is the best one I’ve ever done,” Doja Cat said when presented with the photo of her outfit. “This is Schiaparelli. The things I would do to this one. Smash, big smash.”
According to Doja Cat, who noted that the look was one of the “most sophisticated” she’s worn, she loved it because she “felt like a woman” in the gown.
“And also, my boobs look good. So it’s a good day,” she added.
The singer later admitted the look is tied with another of her red carpet looks, as she also considers the baby blue sheer Atelier Versace dress she wore to the 2022 Grammys a favourite as well.
“Big a** smash. There’s a war between this one and the Schiaparelli. I can’t choose between the two,” she said, before praising the similarities between her gown and the Statue of Liberty. “Gorgeous, perfect look head-to-toe.”
Although she said her looks at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards and 2022 Grammys were her favourite, Doja Cat revealed that she felt “the most beautiful” in the outfit she wore at the A.W.A.K.E Mode Spring/Summer 2023 show during Paris Fashion Week last month. For the occasion, the singer covered herself entirely in gold body paint.
“I wanted to do something simple with really crazy makeup to bring out features in my face that maybe a lot of people would hide,” she explained to Variety. “It really accentuated every aspect of my face, and I loved that about this makeup. I felt the most beautiful in this look because I felt like me.”
As for what fans can expect from her on her next red carpet, which will be the 2023 Grammys on 5 February, Doja Cat revealed that she’d use the word “brutalist” to describe her upcoming outfit.
