Getty Red carpet photographers in Hollywood
Celebrity photographers at the 56th Annual CMA Awards in Nashville thought they were seeing double when former ‘The Voice’ coach Kelsea Ballerini showed up on the red carpet in the same blue Balenciaga dress as fellow country singer Mackenzie Porter — a fashion faux pas among celebrities and their stylists. Photos of the country singers’ twinning moment spread quickly, but Ballerini is holding her head high, making light of the fashion hiccup on social media and clapping back at those making fun of her look.
Kelsea Ballerini’s Not Feeling Blue About Red Carpet Mishap
GettyKelsea Ballerini at the 56th Annual CMA Awards in November 2022
Ballerini, who served as the fifth coach during season 15 of “The Voice” and filled in for Kelly Clarkson when she got sick during filming in 2021, wore the gloved, baby blue Balenciaga dress as she arrived at the awards show and posed for photos. The dress was first worn by Kim Kardashian at the Vanity Fair Oscars party in March 2022, according to People.
But after Canadian singer-songwriter Porter, who released an album with Big Loud Records in 2020, showed up at her first-ever CMAs wearing the same $3,350 dress, just without the gloves, Page Six reported that Ballerini quickly changed backstage into a green gown.
Multiple media outlets captured the red carpet mishap, though, sharing side-by-side comparisons of the two country singers posing in the dress. In a TikTok video Ballerini posted the day after the CMAs, she called out the comparisons as “rude.”
Talking directly to the camera, she said, “It’s giving, ‘Blue is the moment.’ It’s giving, ‘Great minds think alike.’ It’s giving, ‘I immediately changed into a green dress because she looked so good in it!’ It’s giving a ‘Don’t you dare do a who-did-it-better, or put up a side-by-side!’ It’s rude.”
Ballerini then smiled and playfully recited a line from Lizzo’s hit “About Damn Time,” rapping “Feelin’ fussy, walkin’ in my Balenci-ussies, tryin’ to bring out the fabulous.”
Her TikTok video was captioned “Love you @MackenziePorter” and, within three days of its posting, the video had racked up over 2.6 million views.
Kelsea Ballerini Flips Off Social Media User Over Insult About Dress
Ballerini had already posted several videos about her dress before she headed to the CMAs, including the moment she revealed her look to her mom. When a man replied that she looked like “Smurfette” in the blue dress, Ballerini didn’t let it slide. She posted another TikTok video after the awards show to clap back at the comment.
Ballerini highlighted the comment with a snarky video of herself taking a sip of white wine and holding the glass by clasping it with her middle finger extended, subtly flipping the bird at the commenter and then puckering her lips. She captioned the video, “don’t you just love when men…”
In the comment section, one fan wrote, “kelsea been really giving zero fs these days.”
Ballerini replied, “i’m fresh out thank you for noticing hahaha”
The star, who reached a divorce settlement on October 24 with ex-husband Morgan Evans, changed into a third outfit during the CMAs to perform her new song “You’re Drunk, Go Home” with fellow country stars Carley Pearce and Clarkson, who will return to her coach chair on “The Voice” in the spring of 2023.
In an interview with “CBS Mornings” in October, Ballerini addressed her filing for divorce and putting out a new album, called “Subject to Change,” saying she’s “actively healing” and trying to break the habit of trying to please everyone.
“A big part of that is showing up for this album and showing up for myself like I never have,” she said. “I’m a peacemaker. We’ve talked about this before. I’m a people pleaser. So, to do something that kind of goes against those two things is really difficult. And I’m really proud of myself.”