Former Big Brother Naija (BBNaija) housemate, Queen Mercy Atang has shared the concept behind her dressing to the 12th edition of the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA).
Saturday Telegraph had earlier reported that Queen Atang was dressed in a flowing bread gown dress, accompanied with a beans pot bag, which went viral during the just-concluded 2026 AMVCA.
The reality TV star showed up at the event wearing a gown made out of five hundred loaves of bread.
Speaking on the decision that led to the outfit on BBC, Atang revealed that the gown was made by Tiannah Empire fashion designer, Toyin Lawani, not by her.
She stated that the bread dress was intended as subtle promotion for her business, an idea suggested by her stylist.
“First of all, I was not the one who made the dress. Tianah Empire, the king of fashion, made it. It is just for me to get the clothes ready to put on,” she said.
Speaking on the programme, Atang noted that the dress was so heavy that it nearly broke her waist, stating that the weight caused a severe injury to her back.
According to her, she cried while wearing it and had to take it off in a matter of seconds to regain her breath before putting it back on.
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She added: “She asked me first to come and fit myself with the dress to look for places that need adjustments. It took weeks to get the dress ready.
“But for me, the weight of the dress almost broke my waist. If you check my back. If you check my back, I have a serious wound there.
“Because that bread was very heavy. I literally cried while wearing that dress. I first said I needed to catch my breath.
“The first few seconds after wearing the dress, I had to take it off and cried a lot. Then later, I told them I was ready to wear it again.”
Atang said she initially had no plans to attend this year’s AMVCA and had prioritised other business goals. Her designer later convinced her to attend and discouraged a simple outfit.
“I did not plan on going for this year’s AMVCA before. I had put down some things I wanted to achieve for my business. AMVCA was not in my dictionary this year,” she continued.
Despite arriving after the red carpet closed, she insisted on appearing physically at the event to prevent people from thinking the images were AI-generated.
“My designer later urged me to go, while I told her to do something simple for me to wear. But she told me I cannot dress simply for the event.
“I wanted to go to the event physically even after the red carpet had closed. I did not want to post the picture online alone, so people would not say it was AI-generated”.
According to her, she did not expect the dress to go viral and had only anticipated mixed reactions, but was surprised when major news outlets reported it.
“I did not expect my dress to go viral like this. I expected people would have mixed feelings about it. But I noticed that major news outlets reported it”, she concluded.
