Christian Siriano Said This Star Was Difficult To Work With

We're used to seeing stars look red-carpet ready, but plenty of them weren't so fashion-forward before making it big. Some of them styled themselves early on in their careers, and it showed. From meat dresses to choppy bangs to selfie sweatshirts, there's a ton of photo evidence that makes it easy to criticize a celebrity's (lack of) fashion sense. But sometimes, there can be a deeper meaning behind clothing that the average at-home fashionista doesn't know.

Case in point: Lady Gaga came clean in 2015 about how her wild wardrobe didn't necessarily equal confidence. "There's always a dichotomy within me," she told Billboard. "If you see me dressing really out there, I tend to be self-deprecating inside. When I dress like a lady, I tend to be feeling very wild and confident. That sounds bizarre, but I get a lot of s**t done with that blonde hair ...I'm learning how to function effectively in society." 

While Gaga expresses her emotions through clothing, others make political statements with their gowns, like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's dramatic "Tax the Rich" dress at the 2021 Met Gala. And then there's another group of stars: the ones who take matters into their own hands when stylists find it difficult to dress them. Speaking of, keep reading to learn about an A-lister whom Christian Siriano called "difficult" to work with.

Actor Melissa McCarthy dazzles on the red carpet these days, but she's candid about the fact that dressing herself hasn't come without its own set of challenges, especially early on. "I wore white kabuki makeup, had blue-black hair," the "Thunder Force" star told Redbook (via Us Weekly) in 2014 of her college years. "At one point I shaved an inch and a half around my hairline and continued the white makeup so it made my head look slightly deformed. I thought it was hilarious."

So, was it her quirky sense of style that made her difficult to work with? Not exactly. To hear her tell it, designers aren't fans of dressing plus-size A-listers. "Two Oscars ago [in 2012], I couldn't find anybody to do a dress for me," McCarthy said, per Us Weekly. "I asked five or six designers — very high-level ones who make lots of dresses for people — and they all said no."

But this isn't true, at least according to fashion designer Christian Siriano. Claiming that he met with her design team at the time, Siriano told the New York Daily News in 2014, "She [McCarthy] and her stylist chose the fabric and the beading ... She wanted some specific things that I thought would not look good on her body. And she was not comfortable with them in the end." All the drama ultimately led Siriano to brand McCarthy "difficult."

Perhaps stemming from that dramatic 2012 Oscars experience, Melissa McCarthy set out to provide women who look like her with more fashion choices. Her clothing line Seven7 comes in sizes 4-28, though the "Spy" actor doesn't like the term plus-size. "Women come in all sizes," she told Refinery29 in 2015. "Seventy percent of women in the United States are a size 14 or above, and that's technically 'plus size,' so you're taking your biggest category of people and telling them, 'You're not really worthy.' I find that very strange."

The newly minted fashion designer also spoke out against body shaming in the June issue of More (via Today), where she expressed that she'd like to make the shopping experience a more enjoyable one for larger women. "[Malls] segregate plus-size [women]," she told the outlet. "It's an odd thing that you can't go shopping with your friends because your store is upstairs hidden by the tire section. We'll put you gals over there because we don't want to see you and you probably don't want to be seen."

Though it sounds like McCarthy's beef with designer Christian Siriano had less to do with her size and more to do with her insistence on a certain style of dress, it's still refreshing to see she's forging her own fashion path — and empowering other women to do the same.