Black fashion designer Gigi Hunter claims that she sent Ari a free custom dress in exchange for a tag and post, but the social media personality never wore the piece and refused to send it back.
- Jun 30, 2022
AceShowbiz - Ari Fletcher's dress at the 2022 BET Awards continued to spark chatter. Aside from receiving backlash from online users, Ari was accused of wearing a knock-off of a designer's brand at the event, which she already denied.
Bringing up the allegation was black fashion designer Gigi Hunter. "@therealkylesister had me make her a dress in exchange for a post/tag - she ghosted me and kept the dress only to wear this fake knockoff of my brand LOL. Somebody better tell herrrrr," Gigi wrote on Instagram Story.
"This is the dress she had me make just to ghost me when I asked her when she was going to post it," the designer added alongside a picture of a woman wearing a black knit dress. "Who knows her? Because she can send it back now."
Gigi went on to unleash a screenshot of alleged messages between her and Ari. "You're in the Bahamas. I hope that means you'll be wearing the dress soon! Excited to see you in it," Gigi wrote, which earned an exclamation point reaction from Ari. A week later, the designer reminded the influencer, "Hi Ari! Please don't forget to wear it. I've been waiting for a long time. Thank you."
Upon learning that Ari didn't wear the piece, Gigi asked her to send it back to her. "If you don't like it or you're not going to wear it can you please send it back?" she asked. "I'm a Black woman designer and I hand-made that dress for you."
"I know you're busy but I made it for you for free with the expectation that you'd post and tag me," Gigi further argued. "If you don't want to wear it I'd appreciate if you could send it back please so I can sell it."
Catching wind of the posts, Ari took to her own Instagram Story to clarify, "That message is from May 25th, 2021 - over a YEAR ago." She continued, "You OFFERED to send me a dress. We never had any agreement or contract or payments. You just OFFERED and I let you send a dress."
"I didn't wear the dress because it's ugly. I'm not obligated to wear nothing I'm not on contract for. Still stalking me a year later," the girlfriend of Moneybagg Yo added. "Go work on your craft, weirdo."
