Sam Smith's fashion designer has now explained the meaning behind the star's striking inflatable BRIT Awards outfit.
Now, the 30-year-old singer has been turning heads ever since they started being more unapologetic about their creative choices and we saw examples of that at the BRIT Awards as well as the Grammy Awards earlier this month.
Smith, who initially rose to fame with his songs 'Stay With Me' and 'I'm Not The Only One', performed his hit 'Unholy' alongside Kim Petras sporting an all-red latex ensemble at the Grammys. During the performance, the stage was also illuminated with red lighting and featured pyrotechnics and dancers performing in metal cages.
While Smith's fans were praising the singer online, there was a large amount of backlash hurled at the artist, with some people going as far as declaring the performance as "evil."
Texas senator Ted Cruz took to Twitter to retweet quotes slamming Smith’s performance as "satanic," and added: "This is... evil," in response to commentator Liz Wheeler's post that read: "Don’t fight the culture wars, they say. Meanwhile, demons are teaching your kids to worship Satan. I could throw up."
Just a few days later, Smith took to the BRIT Awards stage to deliver another similar rendition of 'Unholy', but swapped out the "devilish" red for an all-black-everything one piece - but don't worry, there was still a lot of latex involved.
Even though that outfit triggered some people, it was Smith's red carpet look that really had them in a chokehold.
The star attended the event wearing a dramatic, inflatable latex outfit by the London-based fashion label Harri which was founded by Indian designer and artist, Harikrishnan Keezhathil Surendran Pillai.
Speaking to Women's Wear Daily, Pillai explained the meaning behind the iconic look.
"Sam was having a lot of hate comments recently after 'Unholy' about their body image. This is my take on celebrating his natural form and the beauty of being one’s self. I wanted to create an image which people have never seen Sam in," the designer said.
In an earlier interview with WWD, the India-born designer, who now has his studio set up in London thanks to the U.K. global talent visa scheme, said, "I would never sell those rubber trousers but yeah, people love it."
As per the outlet, Pillai gained popularity after videos of models dancing and bouncing wearing Harri’s imaginative latex creations logged millions of views on Instagram and TikTok last September.
The designer is due to present his fall 2023 collection on February 20.
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