Emmys 2015: 8 Things We Learned About Ellie Kemper's Sparkling Dress

Take a look behind the scenes of Ellie Kemper's 2015 Emmy dress fittings

It’s tough to stand out on a red carpet where everyone is impeccably dressed and incredibly talented. But our favorite funny girl Ellie Kemper managed to wow us in a multi-colored beaded piece by Naeem Khan, who, along with Kemper’s stylist, Jessica Paster, filled us in on everything that went into creating the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star’s major moment.

Bauer Griffin; Courtesy Naeem Khan

•The look came together in just five days and two fittings. Kemper saw the dress for the first time after it showed on the runway as part of Khan’s spring 2016 collection in New York Fashion Week on Wednesday, Sept. 16. They fit just once more in L.A. before the big show on Sunday.

Courtesy Naeem Khan

•The original design had sleeves, but they removed them… for a really good reason. “We wanted it with no sleeves because I knew it was going to be 95° in L.A. — and I was right,” said Paster. As pretty much every star pointed out, it was sweltering that night!

Courtesy Naeem Khan

•Another savior in the heat? The fact that the dress wasn’t heavy. Sure, there’s a ton of embellishment, but the base of the gown is a light nude stretch tulle. Said Khan, “It weighs about five lbs.”

•The design was inspired by “glamorous life” in the Mediterranean. Warm and cool tones were mixed, because Khan was influenced by “the colors of the beautiful sunset setting on the blue sea in Capri.”

Courtesy Naeem Khan

•There are more than a dozen different varying shades of beads on the dress. “The shading has to be distributed very carefully in order to get the sunset feel,” said Khan. “There are 14 different colors of beads and sequins used in the shading.”

Courtesy Naeem Khan

•That beading took approximately 800 hours to make. According to the designer, 12 highly trained craftsmen worked on the embroidery. In total, “The gown took over 45 days to make and it is all done by hand,” he said. (The removed sleeves alone must have been at least a week’s worth of work!)

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•Paster had a vision for the jewels. “The minute I saw this dress, I really wanted sapphires,” said Paster of the Lorraine Schwartz 10-carat pear shape studs and ring she chose for Kemper.

The Swarovski clutch (center) won out over other bags in the same tone of blue (and went perfectly with her “edgy” dark mani):

Courtesy Jessica Paster

And finally…

•Kemper got a very important sign-off before stepping out the door on Emmy night. Paster told us, “Her lovely hubby [comedy writer Michael Koman] thought it was a work of art.”

Aww! Tell us: Did you love Ellie’s art deco look? Which were your favorites from the red carpet?

RELATED VIDEO: Go Behind the Scenes at Ellie Kemper’s Emmy Fittings!

–Catherine Kast