Dream Girl! Jennifer Hudson's CFDA Performance Jumpsuit Was Covered in 1.7 Million Crystals, Took 1,000 Hours to Create
Every year we can count on a mic drop fashion moment (or two) at the CFDA Awards. We can also count on a lot of sparkle. This year Jennifer Hudson checked off both boxes in a off-the-shoulder, glittering cape-sleeve jumpsuit that was so intricate it needs to be broken down by the numbers.
The custom KaufmanFranco design, which Hudson wore on stage during her Prince tribute performance, was covered in 1,692,000 Swarovski crystals. To put that in context, Rihanna’s now iconic 2014 CFDA Awards dress designed by Adam Selman was hand-embellished with about 216,000 Swarovski crystals. That means Hudson’s dress featured approximately eight times more crystals.
It also took a team of 13 people over 1,000 hours to hand apply each stone and eight countries were involved in creating the look, including Austria, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, the UK and the United States, according to Swarovski. She paired the look with matching glitter pumps for a head-to-toe sparkle showdown.
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So was it easy to move in?
“It’s heavy, but it’s still moveable luckily,” Hudson shared on the red carpet. “It takes some training. You have to take a minute to walk in it to pace yourself — how it moves and how to move in it and how to wear it.”
Hudson took the stage to perform right after Beyoncé surprised the room with her Fashion Icon acceptance speech.
“It was beautiful” the singer shared. “I was so happy to be here to see her have that moment. It was so well-deserved.”
Hudson’s crystal-covered onesie was a complete style 180 from the black-and-red strapless Prabal Gurung ballgown (with a train!) that she first hit the carpet in. The star accessorized the look with red lips and coordinating black Kurt Geiger London heels.
Now we have to ask: Which look was your favorite? Share below!
–Brittany Talarico
