Marie, who uses the pronouns they/them, struggled to find a dress that would fit their size and was ‘red carpet ready’.
“I have to show myself,” Marie said in the Oct. 27 video.
Marie, winner of the 2022 Georgia Author of the Year award, is a queer black poet, essayist and activist based in Atlanta. Last year, Marie released her first collection of poetry, titled “Gumbo Ya Ya”, which explores “race, gender, desire and violence in the lives of Black gxrls”.
“My goal is to tell our stories honestly, however intricate and intricate they are,” Marie told Out magazine in her quote. “There is such freedom in this whole mess.”
After 10 years of writing, the author has been honored on this year’s Out100 list, awarded annually to the 100 most influential members of the LGBTQ+ community. Lizzo was an honoree on the list in 2020.
“I know you know what it’s like to be the biggest b—in the room, and all the scrutiny and hypervisibility that comes with it because I’ve watched you talk about it,” continued Mary in the TikTok video. “I figured the worst thing you can say is no. I hope not, however.
Lizzo said yes, granting Marie’s wish. About a week after Marie posted the video asking for the dress, they received a message from one of Lizzo’s managers, who said the popstar forwarded the video to TikTok and that she “would love to make it happen. occur”.
And at the time of the Out100 winners’ induction ceremony on Friday, Marie wore the artist’s long fuchsia dress from the 2019 American Music Awards.
Lizzo was worried about sending in her Emmys dress, she said in a TikTok video posted on Friday, because she tore it up.
“I had to think fast,” Lizzo said. “My AMAs dress was very similar to my Emmys dress and just as cute honestly. So I found it in my warehouse, got it cleaned and shipped it.
The dress arrived at Marie’s 20 minutes before they flew to New York for the Out100 celebration. In another video showing off the dress, Marie said they “may have had a few tears” on the dress.
Years before asking for Lizzo’s dress, Marie penned an essay for Teen Vogue after the singer, a longtime champion of self-love and body positivity, was criticized for an outfit she wore during of a Los Angeles Lakers game.
A video of Lizzo twerking in her outfit, a T-shirt dress with a cutout in the back, during a December 2019 game had gone viral, and negative comments about her body and clothing choices were rushing in.
“I’ve spent too long hating Lizzo for forcing me to see me, but I’m grateful for her boldness and willingness to bear the burden this world places on her body,” Marie wrote in the test. “She should be allowed, like all of us, to gloriously exist as herself without worrying about being rejected.”
Mary Chayko, professor of communication and information at Rutgers University, told The Washington Post that social media has helped generate feelings of intimacy and connection with other users, including celebrities. Interactions such as likes, shares and comments, she said, help reinforce those feelings.
“It’s really no surprise that virality works that way, because it really hits something inside of us that makes us feel really good and makes us feel really connected to each other,” Chayko said. “So people feel connected to each other and to fame.”
In her videos telling fans what happened with the dress alongside a series of posts from her shapewear line, Yitty, Lizzo said she’s still “scrolling” on TikTok and seeing the videos in which people tag her.
“I didn’t know if they got it, but you got it and you look absolutely gorgeous,” Lizzo said, speaking directly to Marie at the end of telling her followers the story.
