Kelsea Ballerini Wears Iconic Shania Twain Dress to ACM Honors

Kelsea Ballerini was channeling Shania Twain at the 15th Annual Academy of Country Music Honors in Nashville.

The singer hit the red carpet wearing the iconic white turtleneck dress that Twain wore to the 1999 Grammy Awards. Shania wore the sequined floor-length gown the night she picked up Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song (“You’re Still the One”) at the award show.

"Extra" Special Correspondent Alecia Davis spoke with Ballerini on the red carpet, who said she had Shania's "blessing" to wear the look.

Kelsea was there to honor Twain, the recipient of the Poet's Award, and explained, "This dress was removed from the Grammy museum 24 hours ago from her exhibit. This is the dress that Shania wore in 1999 to the Grammys when she swept and I was asked to be here tonight to honor her." Kelsea said she thought to herself "Not only do I want to sing her song obviously, but I want to honor everything that made her special and to me fashion is one of those things. So this is another way of me tipping my hat."

The fashion moment wasn’t the only way Kelsea celebrated Twain at the show. She also performed her mega-hit, "Man! I Feel Like a Woman."

Kelsea told Alecia what it meant to pay tribute to the country star. "She is not only an icon for the genre but like for me personally growing up, she was the girl on the radio… she was the one breaking boundaries in every way… she’s the one that I look to to see where did she push boundaries, how did she do it with grace, how did she do it with wit? She’s just an icon in every way."

Ballerini and Twain actually met up at the awards, where Shania was a standout in a plunging black gown and leopard-print cowboy hat.

Davis spoke with Twain as well, who said she was "blown away" by Kelsea in her dress.

"I mean come on she looks absolutely stunning," Shania said. "It brings the memories back to life, really great memories… that was a Grammy night for me, big night. It was an honor that she wanted to wear it, dust it off... and put it on." The singer added, "We’re sharing this night together."

Twain also dished on her own ACM Honors look, saying, "I wanted to be elegant and glamorous."

As far as being honored with the Poet's Award, she shared, "This takes me right back to my childhood, the very beginning, I started writing songs at 10 years old. It is really what I do."

Earlier, Kelsea had teased her outfit choice ahead of the event by sharing an Insta Stories post from the Grammy Museum. The picture showed the dress on display with the message, "Sisterhood of the traveling dress... guess where @shaniatwain's #GRAMMYs dress is off too next."