Melissa McCarthy Wows In Her Own Dress Design to Spy Premiere: I Want My Clothes to Empower Women

If clothes make the woman, then Melissa McCarthy is fun and fearless, which she proved at the N.Y.C. premiere of her new comedy, Spy, wearing a long patterned flowing number with a sparkling buckle. It was a dress which looked so perfect on her, you would have thought she designed it herself … and it turns out, she did! The comedian-turned-designer stunned in a dress from her own line, Melissa McCarthy Seven7, which launches in August — and as she tells PEOPLE, she hopes to empower women with her designs.

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“I just don’t believe in a uniform,” the actress, 44, told PEOPLE on the red carpet. “I think if people have it and they love it, great, but I think people get into a rut and I’ve always been someone who gets a kick out of dressing.”

McCarthy’s personal style depends on her mood on any given day, but she’s drawn to “classic things that can morph,” she said. “I like vintage, I can never pick one style. I like a little blouse that looks great with a pencil skirt but then the next day I can wear it with ripped jeans and boots.” It’s that chameleon-like style that she’s applying to her own designs: “I’m trying to give women a closet that gives them some variety,” McCarthy said.

That includes some playful items that hold special meaning; when asked what her favorite piece in the collection is, the actress said, “There’s a sweater with a cat drawn on it that’s saying ‘Meow,’ and my daughter drew it and it just kind of breaks my heart.” The proud mom of two girls (with husband Ben Falcone) got a little emotional as she described it. “I’m such a dorky mom, I get choked up about the dumbest things. Not that that’s dumb. It’s just that she’s very creative, she loves to draw,” McCarthy told PEOPLE, while holding back tears.

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It’s just another project she’s proud of — she’s also still a little amazed that she did her own stunts in the action-movie spoof, which hits theaters Friday. “I did a lot of [stunts] — I did everything that they let me do,” she says of the “painful” and “bruise-inducing” experience. “I threw my back out a couple of times, but after all that, it was weirdly fun … It’s challenging. It’s like a big run or something when you don’t think you can get through it and then you do and you’re kind of like, ‘Oh my God.’ You kind of feel proud of yourself for getting through it.”

And the designer wants everyone to feel that joy and pride, whether it means pushing yourself through a grueling workout or throwing on your favorite shirt that she happened to design. “I want women to get dressed every day and feel good about themselves. I don’t care what it is, if it’s dyeing your hair blue, if it’s a sweater, whatever you want to do, if it makes you feel good and empowered, I stand behind it 100 percent,” McCarthy told PEOPLE. “And if I can be a little tiny block on that wall, I’d be proud of that.”

What do you think of her designs? Sound off below!

–Maggie Parker

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