Influencer slammed for sporting a ‘disrespectful’ costume to a marriage – so would you put on it?

A controversial Gold Coast influencer has faced backlash for wearing an eye-catching dress to a friend’s wedding, with fans labelling the look as ‘rude’ and ‘disrespectful.’

Kat Clark, 38, couldn’t contain her excitement when showing her 6.6million TikTok followers her wedding guest outfit for a friend’s nuptials.

The sequined dress was a white strapless mid-length frock adorned with colourful floral prints.

She paired the dress with $690 Dior pearl earrings, a gold pearl necklace, and a knock-off Van Cleef bracelet.

In her TikTok video, Kat asked her followers to weigh in on the etiquette of wearing white to a wedding — a tradition that is often frowned upon in many cultures. 

‘You know when they say you can’t wear white to a wedding, this is OK, right?’ she asked in the video.

‘I hope so, because I have no other option.’

Despite the dress featuring vibrant displays of red, blue, green, and peach-coloured flowers, several fans criticised the TikTok creator for choosing to wear a white dress.

‘Kat why [are you] wearing a white dress when the bride is having a white dress isn’t that a bit disrespectful but ily kat don’t take this as hate,’ someone commented.

‘I would be annoyed if someone had that much white… it’s a stunning dress though,’ added another.

‘I agree, any white shouldn’t even be in question. There [are] so many colours out there,’ one noted.

‘Completely agree!! It’s rude to wear ANY white to a wedding UNLESS stated by the bride to wear white!’ another penned. 

The mother-of-two hit back at the criticism on her Instagram Story, before asking her followers to weigh in.

‘I’m actually shook. Apparently my dress was rude for a wedding because it had too much white?’ she wrote.

Meanwhile, several other fans praised Kat and complemented her choice of outfit for the celebration.

‘As long as it’s not an actual wedding dress, it should never be a problem,’ someone said.

‘People are just superstitious.’

Kat sparked yet another controversy earlier this year, following the launch of her debut skincare line Kalade.

She launched the brand in February to roaring success, selling out her entire stock within ten minutes. 

However not every customer was pleased with Kalade’s advertising methods, thanks to a photo of Kat posing with a box of skincare products alongside her daughters Letisha, 20, and Deja, 12. 

In the image, which is used to advertise the $120 Kalade ‘OG Kit’, Letisha and Deja are seen posing with their middle fingers raised towards the camera. 

The Kalade Instagram page shared a photograph of a customer’s online complaint about the ad, which read: ‘I hate this because the girls in the picture are sticking the middle finger.’

Kalade replied by captioning the post with ‘Womp womp’ – a slang term used to respond to a minor disappointment or problem. 

However it seems some customers enjoyed her daughters’ decision to flip the birdie, as another commenter wrote: ‘Omg Deja and Letisha middle finger [laughing/crying emoji]. I’m such a big fan’.

It comes after Kat raised eyebrows for sharing a video of herself crying after learning that mega-influencer Anna Paul was set to release her skincare brand Paullie at the same time as hers.

In the viral video, Kat broke down as she admitted she ‘feels like a failure’ and was ‘scared’ by the prospect of competing with Anna.

Unimpressed TikTok users branded Kat’s video as ’embarrassing’ and ‘cringeworthy’, with one commenting: ‘That to me is selfishness and jealousy… can’t she be happy that others are successful? Ew.’

‘Right? Like, I love her but she didn’t have to make a whole video about this,’ someone agreed.

Yet another added: ‘Imagine a grown woman. A supposedly CEO of a company, making a crying video because of other people’s business. What is happening with society?’

It was this comment which struck a nerve with Kat, as she returned to TikTok days later with a video responding to the user who wrote it.

‘You’ve probably seen the videos and comments of people mocking me for crying. People saying I’m manipulating people, that I’m embarrassing, that I’m fake crying,’ Kat fumed.

‘This is what I do. I share my life with you, and that is exactly what I’m doing with business. Except I’ve only been able to start posting about it now.’

Kat went on to point out that everyone – including CEOs – have feelings, and she has every right to be emotional given that she invested ‘all her money’ and ‘remortgaged her house’ to launch her business.

‘Just imagine for a second you took out that much money to invest in something and then a month later someone has the same idea,’ Kat said.

‘I recorded that to maybe help other small business owners out there and let them know that they are not alone.’

It seems her fears about launching her brand unfounded, however, as days later Kat revealed her products were selling so fast that she needed to hire extra help.

‘Kalade is hiring. Casual employment. Packing orders, assisting with customer emails, PA to Kat,’ the brand posted to Instagram Stories.

Kat has also boasted about the sell-out success of her brand since, taking to Instagram Stories with a photo of her husband packing orders in their lounge room.

‘Packed until 1.30am and probably about to do the same tonight [melting face emoji,’ she wrote.

A day earlier, Kat had uploaded a video of herself and her daughters reacting to the news that Kalade’s entire product range had sold out within ten minutes of launching.