Chrissy Metz has a “10 percent black” rule when it comes to red carpet dressing. The This Is Us star won’t be confined to the “only black” options curvy women face, and she embraces wearing bold colors, prints and fabrics that show off her signature sense of style and personality. The actress and body activist proved that once again at Sunday’s MTV Movie & TV Awards in a custom latex look that she had been planning with her stylist Jordan Grossman for close to a year. And she wasn’t going to let anyone ruin her dream dress moment.

The 36-year-old turned to Twitter to share a powerful message and remind body shamers that they would not rattle her confidence: “For the record, I wear what I want, when I want. News flash it’s MY body. #thankstho.”

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Metz’s stylist tells PeopleStyle exclusively that wearing a latex look was a “dream for Chrissy for a long time.”

“She does not care about anyone’s opinions as long as she feels good and looks great. It was a [fashion] moment she’s been wanting for a long time,” Grossman shares. “Regardless what anyone said or says it’s really her moment so they can’t take that away from her.”

Grossman adds Metz’s empowering response to Internet haters is a message she’s been trying to get across since “she started this whole tour on her new life.”

“In the beginning, it was seeing what works and what doesn’t, and now it’s become an inspiring thing to people around the world to see a plus-size girl can wear a latex dress, or shiny skirt or bold patterns,” Grossman says. “We get so many Facebook and Instagram messages from women saying, ‘I would love to wear something like this and now I know it’s possible for me to wear something like this.'”

Image zoom Rob Latour/REX/Shutterstock

Below, Grossman shares five more facts about Metz’s memorable look.

The Dress Was Dreamed Up Last Year

“At the first fitting I ever did with Chrissy, we both wanted to do a latex dress. That had been her dream forever. And I had wanted to do that for a long time, so it kind of seemed right. But we obviously had to find the right event to do it for. She can’t just show up in a latex dress at the People’s Choice Awards or Golden Globes.”

It Only Took Three Weeks to Make

“We basically waited almost a year, and when we were ready I connected with a latex maker I know from Jane Doe Latex and we went in, did some measurements and talked about what we wanted to do. Three weeks later the dress was ready. We had one more fitting and that was about it. The Jane Doe dressmaker was literally amazing. To only have met Chrissy once and make the dress fit perfectly — she didn’t have to do alterations.”

It’s a New Color for Chrissy

“It’s a color she has not done before. I’m sure people have noticed that with all the outfits she wears, she wears black 10 percent of the time. We didn’t want to repeat something she’s done a million times before. She’s never done a color like that. It was kind of mauve-y but when we added the shine to it it turned a bit red. In every light it looked a different color which we thought was really cool too.”

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She Immediately Fell in Love With It

“I had not seen her that excited over an outfit in a while. She was very giddy and happy.”

Chrissy Loves Going Custom

“She never wants to look boring or average. She always wants to be different. That’s why we do so much custom stuff. We can do whatever we want, choose whatever fabric we want. And we know it’s going to fit her perfectly. She loves the more avant-garde looks. She will email me all the time random ideas she has for things, and we’ll just bounce back and forth ideas. She’s extremely creative and involved in every outfit she wears.”