Emmy award-winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, has opened up on why she chose to wear a kente gown to the 2023 NAACP Image Awards.

Speaking on The Personality Profile on Joy FM, she revealed that knowing her hit show ‘Abbott Elementary’ was going to be nominated for an Image Award, she wanted an outfit that reflected Africa.

“I was strolling through the internet and I saw this beautiful woman, looks like she and I were from the same tribe, and she had on this gorgeous kente gown and I loved it. I asked who the designer was and found it on the Pitis GH page,” Sheryl Lee Ralph told Lexis Bill on Thursday.

“I told them I know that the show (Abbott Elementary) is going to be nominated for an image award and I want to have something that reflects true, real and royal Africa. We went through picking the colours and all that,” the actress noted.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sheryl Lee Ralph (@thesherylleeralph)

Sheryl Lee Ralph said that she was stunned when she saw the final product arrive in the US ahead of the show.

“When it arrived and I opened the suitcase, it was so beautiful. When I put it on, I felt like cinderella or one of those girls you see in stories. It was so amazing and so beautiful. And when I went out the door and hit that red carpet people were silent and they had never seen anything like that before.”

The actress said she is already in talks with the renowned Ghanaian design house to create two more outfits for other award shows she will attend soon.

It will be recalled that Emmy Award-winning actress and Abbott Elementary star, Sherly Lee Ralph, graced the annual event in a kente-styled dress.

She wore a custom-made gown by the renowned Ghanaian fashion house, Pitis GH. The gown is made from a bright orange kente print with ruffle sleeves, a bead-encrusted bodice and a kente print skirt with added brown detailing at the train and a mermaid-style silhouette.

Taking to her social media handles, the actress revealed that the husband and wife team at Pitis GH, Kabutey and Sumaiya, spent 1000 hours constructing the gown of beaded kente cloth for her.

Sheryl Lee Ralph told Lexis Bill she was impressed with Pitis GH not only for their work output, but their work ethic adding that she was nervous the outfit would not arrive in time for the show, but they delivered.