An influencer has been slammed for the ‘outrageous’ dress she wore to a wedding.
Chelsea Parke, the founder of Parke – a ‘high-quality’ clothing brand – was seen wearing a sheer light brown sequin dress to a wedding over the weekend.
She posed at the event with her fiancé, who sported a classic black and white tuxedo, while Parke’s undergarments were visible through the $640 Jacques Wei dress.
Users online were quick to criticize the influencer’s outfit, as one said: ‘She looks so out of place.’
‘People have really lost the idea of what black tie is,’ wrote another.
‘Why is she wearing a sheer curtain over her bra and underwear?,’ someone asked.
‘This is crazy,’ another said.
Someone else wrote: ‘I’m sorry, that is in SUCH poor taste..’
While some outright disagreed with the dress for the specific occasion, others adamantly said they wouldn’t wear the dress at all.
‘Personally, I wouldn’t wear it anywhere,’ a user admitted.
‘Or wear it at all…,’ wrote another.
‘Why would you wear this anywhere? Hideous,’ someone else said.
Another said: ’It’s ugly and inappropriate like girl pick a struggle.’
Even though many people didn’t care for the dress, others told Parke how much they loved the gown.
‘Perfection,’ one person said, while another said ‘So gorg!!’
‘I kinda love it,’ wrote another.
Parke shared links to her outfit from that night to her Instagram story and said: ‘Have had my eye on this [the dress] for quite some time.’
She paired the controversial gown with $750 short black heels from Aquazzura and a small $1,090 handbag from Moda Operandi, called ‘The Row’.
Parke, who has a background in ‘traditional fashion wholesale,’ was inspired to start her own clothing company as she was in search of ‘classic and timeless pieces’ in her wardrobe, Forbes reported in October.
‘My previous background is in wholesale, but what we learned is that our customer doesn’t need a fall/winter collection, and that be the only collection of the fall/winter,’ she told the outlet.
‘They want something new once or twice a month. That being said, we haven’t had a core collection yet as we have taken the last year to see what items will live in our core collection come next year.’
From 2022 to 2023, Parke managed to go from bringing in $100,000 in sales, to an astounding $1 million.
She said a huge part of her brand’s success comes from her more than 200,000 followers across her social media platforms, as she focuses on being transparent with them.
‘I truly believe that transparency is key to building a strong brand, in any sense. Since inception I’ve shared my journey of the business on social media, showcasing our successes as well as the daily challenges I face running a company and that my team faces,’ she said.
‘I believe that people feel connected not only through my personal journey but also through the collective experience of where we started and how far we’ve come- from packing orders at home to leading a full team.’
According to the clothing brand’s website, Parke sells an array of loungewear, as well as denim and corduroy pieces.
The brand also sells accessories, including baseball hats that range from $40 to $185, $40 tote bags, and $150 sunglasses.
