Brad Paisley’s 2018 CMA Awards Carrie Underwood Blazer Wasn’t Actually Made for Him
Brad Paisley usually takes a backseat to Carrie Underwood when it comes to dazzling the audience at the CMA Awards with wardrobe changes. But when he stepped out onstage in a blazer that featured a collage of images of Underwood's face at the very end of Wednesday night's (Nov. 14) ceremony, he stole the show.
The jacket could have easily been interpreted as one of Paisley's many pranks as one of the 201 CMA Awards co-hosts -- but, as it turns out, the jacket wasn't even his idea. Designer Jimbo Simmons, a huge fan of Underwood's, created the "Coat of Many Carries" before a mutual friend gifted the jacket to Paisley ahead of the CMAs.
"I thought it would be funny if Brad wore this blazer and [Underwood] wouldn’t anything know about it,” Simmons tells CMT. “So when Brad was in concert in Lexington, [Ky.], my friend brought it to him. And said that Brad loved it. But he didn’t say much more. Then a few weeks ago, he told me Brad was going to wear it on the show.”
Simmons is an electrical engineer, according to his website, but he also "has a natural eye for design and fashion." He tells CMT that he "love[s] Carrie Underwood, and thought, ’Why don’t I put a jacket together with a collage of her pictures?" Simmons makes his custom blazers using ink sublimation; he says they are high quality and hold up nicely wear after wear.
In addition to rocking Simmons' blazer onstage, Paisley shared a photo of himself in it, Underwood by his side, on Instagram. "Me and Carrie, and Carrie, and Carrie ..." he captioned the snap.
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