On Thursday night celebrities gathered in London for yet another (incredibly stylish) premiere for Marvel's Black Panther. Among those well-dressed stars was Michaela Coel, who created, writes, and stars in the Netflix show Chewing Gum and stole the show in the Star Trek–inspired "USS Callister" episode of Black Mirror. While walking the red carpet, Coel wore a backless gown in a vibrant red and blue print with halter straps, accessorizing with a gold pendant necklace, a gold bangle on her upper arm, and black ankle boots.
You may have thought, and understandably so, that the British actress's one-of-a-kind dress was created by some under-the-radar U.K. designer, but you'd be wrong—unless you consider Coel to be an under-the-radar U.K. designer. On Friday Coel revealed on Twitter that, in fact, she had made the dress herself in less than two hours. Casual.
"Last minute invite to WAKANDA, had 2hrs to ready myself. I had bought two of the same skirt from auntie who has the stall outside the pharmacy in Accra mall. I cut one skirt to make it into a top and sew da ting together into a dress. Resourceful b*tch," she tweeted, along with two pictures of her absolutely slaying the red carpet. Coel followed up this mind-blowing tweet with a video of her standing next to Black Panther star Lupita Nyong'o. "Cute, I know," she captioned the clip, in which she poses for a picture with Nyong'o.
Last minute invite to WAKANDA, had 2hrs to ready myself. I had bought two of the same skirt from auntie who has the stall outside the pharmacy in Accra mall. I cut one skirt to make it into a top and sew da ting together into a dress.
Resourceful bitch. pic.twitter.com/ztGcl2OhJN
Cute, I know pic.twitter.com/ZYtGhpyGvp
PHOTO: JAMY/BARCROFT MEDIA/GETTY IMAGES
As BuzzFeed points out, Coel's probably learned a little something about handmade red-carpet-ready gowns from her mother. In 2016 she shared a photo on Instagram from the British Academy Television Awards, where she wore another brightly patterned halter-neck gown with a long train. "Thank you Mummy. She's actually a nurse, and occasionally does the clothes thing as a hobby...don't think she was quite ready for the amount of love for the dress 😂" Coel captioned the picture. After the same event last year, she shared another photo of her wearing a hot pink A-line minidress on the red carpet. "Thank you Mummy for making my dress," she wrote.