Mary J. Blige knew a sequin jumpsuit was the perfect outfit choice when she was inducted into the Walk of Fame at the Apollo Theater in New York City earlier this year.

The superstar made a sartorial statement when she stepped out in a glittering green and black zebra-print halterneck number from Ashish when she received the prestigious honour in May.

Reflecting on the event in a chat for Vogue’s Life in Looks series, Mary recalled just how fantastic she felt in the eye-catching ensemble.

“I’m content. I’m loving on me very hard (sic). So grateful, so thankful. But I’m still ghetto fabulous and live and sexy and classy all at the same time. It’s just freedom. Do what you want,” she remembered of her emotions at the time. “This is an Ashish jumpsuit. I just felt really, really good. I remember, the first time I ever hit the Apollo stage, I was singing background for an artist by the name of Jeff Redd of Uptown Records. And I used to shop on 125th Street at High Energy (boutique) and just to look across the street as a child who did not know what was going to happen in her life and then see the Apollo and end up there, performing on my own, not an amateur night. Performing as Mary J. Blige. It’s amazing.”

Elsewhere in the chat, Mary spoke about the stunning pale blue and gold embroidered Versace gown she wore with thigh-high boots to the 2018 Met Gala, as well as the black patent leather catsuit she selected for the 1995 Billboard Music Awards.

“This was the Billboard Awards and I was trying to give off sexy Catwoman kinda thing without the ears because I wanted something to match my Fendi bag that had patent leather on it. This outfit is Gucci. At this point, I was all about, ‘More is more.’ Lots of rings, blondest hair, or the reddest hair. I wore black lipstick with dark lipstick. As many accessories as I could find,” the 50-year-old stated, before insisting: “I was super shy. Camera shy, believe it or not. And especially people shy, so the red carpet was like, ‘Argh, do we have to?'”

– Cover Media