Kelsea Ballerini is using fashion to pay tribute to her hero and collaborator Shania Twain. The country star took Twain’s exact 1999 Grammys dress for a spin at age 15.th Annual Academy of Country Music Honors Wednesday night at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.
Twain’s long-sleeve long-neck, sparkling white Marc Bouwer gown was worn by Twain at 41str The annual Grammy Awards, where she took home wins for Best Female Vocal Performance and Best Country Song for “You’re Still the One.” The dress was loaned to Ballerina, 28, by the Grammy Museum for 24 hours, as it is currently on display at The power of women in country music exhibition.
Before hitting the carpet, the Ballerina posted an Instagram Story revealing a glimpse of the archival dress sitting in the museum and writing, “Sister of the journey dress… guess where @shaniatwain’s #GRAMMY dress is.” The institution wrote on its Instagram stories, “We are so honored to help make this moment happen.”
The dancer later shared photos in the dress — while posing with Twain — writing, “iIf your hero is Shania Twain, meet your hero. you can become friends and she might even let you wear the dress. 🤍 (ps thanks @grammymuseum for letting me borrow it for 24 hours !!! pss tune in to see all the acm tributes on September 13th).
Twain was honored Wednesday night with the ACM Honors Poet Laureate and said Fun Tonightshe was “so amazed” when she saw the Ballerina in her dress.
“She looks amazing. She looks like an absolute angel. It’s flattering to see her in a dress, she even wanted to wear it. I said, ‘I hope it’s not too dusty after I’m in [Grammy Museum]” said Twain. “It was an incredible night for me at the Grammys. That dress represented that experience, so I’m glad to see it alive again. Now she has a new life, she has new memories, and it’s really wonderful to be able to share that with other people, with another woman. Of course it’s a great compliment to be so admired that someone would want to get into my outfit.”
Ballerini told the newspaper that she believes Twain’s personal style deserves recognition. “One of the things I think she’s an icon for is her fashion and the way she’s always pushing the boundaries. I wanted to honor that part of her as well.”
Unable to change the dress, Ballerini was worried that the dress might not fit properly. (No one wants another fiasco that ensued after Kim Kardashian wore Marilyn Monroe’s 1962 dress to the 2022 Met Gala.) But thankfully, Ballerini made it work! Since she is slightly taller than Twain, she simply decided to wear a shorter heel.
There was another Twain twinning moment that came later in the night. During Ballerina’s performance, she mirrored Twain’s onstage look from the 1999 Grammy Awards. The star stripped down in a black strapless corset dress with fishnet stockings and beaded opera gloves, just as Twain did 23 years ago.
The pair met in 2017 and collaborated in 2020 on Ballerini’s hit single “Hole in a Bottle” on the album. kelsea. The performer was even featured in Twain’s new Netflix documentary Not just a girlgushing about the immeasurable influence Twain has had on her country music career.
While the event took place last night, the AMC Honors will air on Tuesday, September 13th on FOX.
