Around my house, we have a phrase that we love to ironically repeat: “I suffer for my art.” This is usually in response to looking fashionable even when it means feeling uncomfortable, like layering during the summer. However, that pales in comparison to what some of our favorite celebrities have experienced. Their whole career is based around looking good, and that means wearing some crazy outfits. What most fans don’t realize, though, is that these looks are also crazy painful!
This is especially evident when it comes to red carpet events. If a celebrity just walks into, say, a random restaurant, they’ll naturally look like the most glamorous person there. But on the red carpet, they are surrounded by other celebs, all of them trying to look prettier than each other. That means wearing some of the wildest and (unbeknownst to fans) most painful outfits. Which celebs suffered the most for their art? Keep reading to find out!
Zendaya’s night in shining armor
When it comes to fashion, Zendaya always understands the assignment. In 2024, she showed up to the red carpet for the premiere of Dune: Part Two, a sci-fi movie that feels simultaneously like it’s super futuristic (there are spaceships and lasers!) and weirdly anachronistic (people still do swordfights!). At the premiere, Zendaya wore an outfit that reflected the vibe, basically dressing like a space knight visiting us from the cosmos.
While she looked amazing, it was very clear that Zendaya was suffering for her art. She seemed very visibly uncomfortable the entire time she was wearing this getup. Later, she revealed what happened: she was starting to become lightheaded because “the metal conducts and holds onto heat very quickly and kind of traps heat in.” So as it turns out, this was one example where she didn’t just look hot, she was hot!
The worst pain Kim Kardashian ever felt
Earlier, we described how it’s basically a celebrity’s job to look good. That’s especially true in the case of Kim Kardashian, someone who parlayed a leaked sex tape into an entire career as a reality TV mogul and lifestyle influencer. Long story short? Kim understands that if people aren’t talking about your red carpet appearance, then you might as well have stayed home. In 2019, she stunned at the Met Gala in a Mugler dress that leaves little to the imagination.
Seriously, this is basically the perfect dressing for showing off every inch of Kim Kardashian’s figure. Her mission was a success: the dress went viral on the internet as thirsty fans enjoyed getting a look at so much of Kim’s body. Meanwhile, though, that body was experiencing major pain. She later said, “I have never felt pain like that in my life.” What kind of pain are we talking? Not only did she have to take breathing lessons to wear it, but this Mugler dress left indentations all over her body after she took it off!
When Doja Cat looked like a Star Wars character
Doja Cat is always at the forefront of fashion. She’s naturally beautiful, of course, but she always finds the best outfits to accentuate her good looks. And when she can’t find them, she makes them. This was especially evident in 2023 when she rocked up to the Schiaparelli runway show. She wore a beautiful, textured red dress that would normally have been the only thing people could talk about. However, nobody really noticed the dress because they were noticing something else: namely, that the singer painted her body red and covered herself with crystals!
It was, uh, quite a look. Frankly, she looked like a Star Wars character! As it turns out, dressing like you’re from a galaxy far, far away can be painful. In addition to all the discomfort of being covered in paint and 30,000 Swarovski crystals, she was dealing with a stomach bug. Later, she described the whole experience very bluntly: “I never felt pain worse than that.”
Katie Perry’s craziest dress sounds insanely painful
Some of the outfits we have shown so far don’t look that painful. For example, you might not have known how much pain Zendaya and Doja Cat were going through if they hadn’t told us. Sometimes, though, an outfit looks so complex (and so crazy) that you just immediately know it was going to hurt to wear. Perhaps the best case of that is when Katy Perry rocked up to the 2019 Met Gala dressed as a chandelier.
Yes, a chandelier. It had working lights and everything! But it also took a lot of human power (especially willpower) to wear. There’s a corset inside that makes it hard to breathe, and there are hidden battery packs throughout as well as 18 steel “bones” holding the whole thing together. Honestly, it sounds painful. Which is doubly sad because girl, this outfit was completely freakin’ weird!