Heavy/Getty HGTV's Erin Napier
Erin Napier was so excited to give one of her favorite designers a tour of her hometown that the HGTV star “missed the group text” on what everyone was wearing for the special event — and her fans have had a lot to say about it.
On February 24, 2023, Napier shared photos of her day with interior designer and author James Farmer as he visited Laurel, Mississippi, for a book signing and luncheon. But her Instagram followers couldn’t get over the fashions of the day, including the fact that Napier was the only woman in the photos wearing jeans while all of her friends were wearing colorful maxi dresses.
Napier has said she was never interested in makeup or clothes growing up, but fans pay close attention to the busy mom’s fashion choices, frequently asking where she’s found her outfits, often commenting on what they love — and what they don’t.
Napier & Her Best Friends Wore Anthropologie Outfits to Laurel Luncheon
Napier was excited to spend her Friday with her friends and Farmer, who built his own successful design empire in Perry, Georgia, and has written multiple New York Times best-sellers about home design. Farmer, whose latest book is called “Celebrating Home,” was in town for a lecture and special luncheon at the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art.
“I was a tourist in my own town today for @jamestfarmer’s visit to @laurenrogersmoa with my gal pals,” Napier captioned a series of photos she shared on Instagram. “So good to have finally met one of my favorite designers. Which of his books are your favorite?”
But rather than answer Napier’s question about Farmer’s books, most fans zeroed in on what she and her friends were wearing, with one saying “the dresses are all I can focus on.” In two of the three photos she shared, Napier was flanked by women wearing colorful, flowing maxi dresses while she was in jeans and a billowy blouse.
When one follower wrote, “I love the dresses,” Napier replied, “i didn’t get the group text about wardrobe apparently” and added a laughing emoji.
But Napier’s acknowledgment that she didn’t match the others did not keep her followers from questioning her outfit and gently teasing her for standing out from the crowd, with many saying she’d clearly “missed the memo.”
One wrote, “Looks like Erin forgot to ware a dress that day. Hehe”
Lots of fans swooned over the women’s dresses, asking where they got them.
When one fan wrote that Napier’s longtime friend Aly Saxton Smith looked “so beautiful” and asked about her navy dress with white embroidery, Smith replied, “Well you just made my day!” and shared that she was wearing an Anthropologie Somerset dress.
Another of Napier’s closest friends, Emily Nowell, wore a chambray version of the dress, which Yahoo Life declared the “season’s hottest style” during the summer of 2022. Napier’s best friend, Mallory Rasberry, also wore a dress from Anthropologie — the Tropical Sunshine V-Neck dress designed by Farm Rio.
Though Napier didn’t wear a maxi dress like the seven other women in her photos, she did follow the Anthropologie theme, as she wore — according to Google Images — the now sold-out maeve button-down, puffed-sleeve blouse from the retailer.
Fans Often Flip Out Over Erin Napier’s Fashions
Napier’s fashions are a frequent topic of conversation in the comment sections of her social media posts, whether fans love what she’s wearing or not. She’s known for wearing flowy, colorful designs from Anthropologie, MadeWell and other popular retailers.
In 2020, she shared one of her Anthropologie dresses via Instagram and pointed out the “awkward” fashion faux pas that resulted in her wearing the same dress in two back-to-back episodes of her hit show, “Home Town.”
“I never imagined they would air next to each other since they were filmed months apart, but real talk—no one cares,” she wrote.
But, in fact, people do care about what the mom of two wears and often want to know where she gets her outfits. Websites including Spotern and ShopYourTV actually track the outfits Napier wears on “Home Town” and share where they’re from.
In November 2020, Napier donated outfits she wore in her first four seasons of the show to a consignment shop in Laurel, with proceeds going to an organization providing transitional housing for local women in need.
Fans love to weigh in the outfits Napier wears offscreen, too. In August 2022, fans flipped over an outfit she was wearing in a photo shared on Instagram, begging for details on everything from her shoes to the dress she wore to a fundraising dinner for the Ole Miss Alumni Association.
That November, when she leaned on friend Drew Barrymore to help her quickly find a designer dress for her appearance on the CMA Awards, fans gave her look mixed reviews. While many adored the Marchesa gown, Napier was stunned by how many people complained about it being low-cut.
So many people slammed the dress for not being “wholesome” enough, in fact, that Napier’s friend, country artist Morgane Stapleton — wife of Chris Stapleton, who won the Male Vocalist of the Year Award that night — clapped back at one of them.
When someone asked why women wear low-cut dresses, Stapleon replied, “because we feel like it and it makes us feel pretty and maybe, even a little sexy! I’m so glad you asked so I could clue you in! Now you know.”