When ‘Who Wore It Better’ Goes Bad, Starring Dascha Polanco
Daniela Di Giacomo and Dascha Polanco at the “50 Most Beautiful” People en Español party. (Photos: Getty)
It’s every woman’s fear to show up somewhere wearing the same outfit as another attendee. And while it’s easy to laugh it off in the moment (totally been there), the celebrity media often has a way of spinning things for the worse. Enter: “Who wore it better.” Perhaps you’ve heard of it?
The public loves pitting two women against each other — but when you’re one of the two involved, things can get ugly.
On Tuesday, actress Dascha Polanco, who plays inmate Dayanara on Orange Is the New Black, went to the “50 Most Beautiful” People en Español party wearing a revealing white cutout dress by affordable celeb-fave House of CB. As fate would have it, Venezuelan television host Daniela Di Giacomo had chosen the exact same dress for the occasion.
In an Instagram post that now appears to have been deleted, Di Giacomo playfully shared a side-by-side of herself and Polanco, writing, “#BitchStolemyLook! Hahaha typical you reach the #alfombra of #peopleenespanol of #los50masbellos and you get the beautiful bombshell #DaschaPolanco using the same dress! Puesss I say, we have the same taste! #loveher.”
And then things turned sour.
Hosts of Univision’s show El Gordo y La Flaca (“The Fat Guy and the Skinny Woman”) decided to take it upon themselves to comment — very blatantly — about their opinion of which woman wore the bandage dress better, as well as to discuss Polanco’s weight and curvaceous figure. (Watch the whole exchange below, in Spanish.)
Unsurprisingly, their words didn’t sit well with the actress, who retaliated with an Instagram post of her own on Thursday, lashing out at the hosts, as well as the media’s overall lack of discretion when it comes to being rude and hurtful.
Polanco wrote: “It’s really tasteless to come across today that a host of @univision @elgordoylaflacahave used poor choices of words that have become offensive. They have created an environment in which it has ignited bullying across their platforms & has instigated against my weight due to the same dress being worn by one of their host and I last night. Interesting that they chose to glorify something so superficial like this, and not focus on the issues Latinos face in Hollywood. I don’t get how they allow their reporters to use profanity to make noise. #ismellgood #ieatbullies #OffensiveFoul #siempreyo #gordayto #estacurvasnuncasevanaenderezar.”
Waging war against an established media staple — “who wore it better”-type segments — is obviously an uphill battle. The hosts’ comments are proof that, while the body-acceptance movement has made massive headway in many ways, it’s very much not altogether there yet. And good for Polanco for getting the conversation going.
Still, in this writer’s personal opinion, all the negativity could’ve been avoided with the simple conclusion that neither of these women wore the dress “better.” Why? Because it’s absolutely hideous.
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