Last month, social media influencer Ellie Gonsalves wore a “naked” dress to her wedding day. Now, the Australian model is being heavily criticized online by people who feel that her wedding dress is totally inappropriate. However, the 33-year-old Gonsalves married her partner Ross Scutts during a lavish ceremony along the Gold Coast in Australia, where the influencer had three different wedding dresses to mark the special occasion.
Gonsalves wowed her wedding guests with her first two dresses, but it was the third wedding dress that was so scandalous people felt it was inappropriate. When images of this third wedding dress made their way to the internet, people quickly commented that they felt the dress was too racy for a wedding ceremony.
On Sunday, Gonsalves struck back at her most hateful critics, claiming that she was a victim of the world’s “restrictive” expectations on women and brides and how they are expected to dress for various occasions like a wedding.
Gonsalves wrote an article about the ordeal for 9Honey, saying: “‘In an era where women are encouraged to exercise agency over their bodies, it is disheartening to witness the barrage of hate and derogatory comments I received for what some have described as my ‘daring’ dress.”
She added that the attacks on her for wearing the scandalous wedding dress show that society does not support women’s ability to have “bodily autonomy.”
“Every individual, regardless of gender, should possess the autonomy to decide what they wear, how they present themselves, and what they share with the world,” she wrote. “By denying women this autonomy, we perpetuate a harmful culture of control that infringes upon their fundamental rights.”
For years, Ellie Gonsalves has been working as a model in the fashion industry, which has put her in some racy outfits in the past. She wrote that what she sees as “appropriate” for her wedding would probably not be the same dress that a random woman named “Susan,” who “grew up in a Christian community in Midwest, America,” would see as being appropriate for a wedding.
Gonsalves’s scandalous dress was a corset-style frock by OGLIA-LORO Couture. She wore the barely-there wedding dress with a pair of silver strap heels.
Some of her followers on social media wrote comments about how this choice of wedding dress was more like lingerie with its see-through nature and a very high thigh split.
One conservative wrote, “What you’re sharing with everyone is supposed to be only for your husband.”
“Soon, people will be going to weddings in their bikinis. More skin on show that way, right?” another follower wrote on social media.
And a third said: “I’m sorry, but this is not a good dress for the wedding. Dress modestly!”
When Ellie decided to strike back at her haters, she wrote on Instagram: “What’s that phrase? If you dish it out, be prepared to take it. I can’t believe people are getting so offended by a wedding dress.”