Keke Palmer and fashion designer Sergio Hudson cover ‘Essence’, talk dressing her post-baby body

Keke Palmer and clothing designer Sergio Hudson share details about their fashion partnership as the latest Essence cover stars. 

In the spread, they detail what it’s been like to dress Keke’s post-baby body, starting with the actress’s viral 2022 Met Gala look. 

It was only two months after she gave birth to her now 6-month-old son, Leodis “Leo” Jackson, but with Hudson’s help, Keke felt comfortable stepping out at the famed fashion event. 

“I feel like I was the most beautiful woman there,” Palmer said. “I knew that my hair was on point. I knew that my makeup was on point. I knew that my look was on point.”

Keke described how helpful Hudson was as they walked the carpet and said she credits him for her return to the public eye after giving birth.

“He was like, ‘Get out there and talk to these people. You need to work the room. These people need to see how good you look.’ He was breathing so much life into me,” she said.

She added, “It makes me feel a little bit emotional now, talking about it, because I honestly feel like he brought me back to the world, honey. He really did.”

Hudson, who dressed the star in a curve-hugging gown full of Swarovski crystals and finished the look with a powder blue opera coat, felt Keke’s happiness on the carpet, saying that she “was so happy in her skin.” 

Though her body “was changing by the day” and they underwent multiple fittings, Hudson enjoyed making Keke “feel confident in that moment.” 

“Right from the start, I knew I was in good hands,” she said. 

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