Jennifer Lopez’s Versace gown—worn to the 2000 Grammys—made Lopez’s star shine even brighter, sparked a million conversations, and literally invented Google Images. But, according to Lopez herself, the moment almost didn’t happen at all.
In an interview with Vogue where she reflected on 17 of her biggest fashion moments, Lopez said her then-stylist Andrea Lieberman begged her to not wear the dress. Why? Other celebrities were photographed in it months prior.
“It was a dress that other people had worn already,” Lopez said. “My stylist was like, ‘Please don’t wear it. Somebody else has worn it.’ I was like, ‘Well, you bought it, and it looks the best, so I’m going to wear it.’ And so I did. And it caused quite a stir.”
That’s putting it lightly. Lopez compared the dress’ impact to that of Marilyn Monroe’s legendary white halter dress from The Seven Year Itch: “I guess every generation needs its iconic kind of Marilyn dress, and this is that dress for this generation,” Lopez said of the Versace look. “Why it became that? It was just a moment when the wind blew open, and I walked out onto the stage, and it just kinda happened.”
Lopez actually re-introduced the history-making gown in 2019, People reports, closing out the Versace show during Milan Fashion Week in the jungle dress, “which was taken to new heights courtesy of a unitard silhouette and flowing train,” the outlet writes.
Of her original 2000 wear of it, Lopez reflect on its impact in a video on her YouTube channel. “All of a sudden you start hearing a little murmur,” she said of stepping out of the car at the ceremony. “I’m thinking, it’s the Grammys. It has to be somebody famous behind us. It was a frenzy. The flashes started going in a way that it’s not usually. There was an extra kinetic energy there. I was like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ I had no idea it was about this dress.”
After the red carpet, Lopez went backstage to present the first award of the night with David Duchovny. “Me totally unsuspecting, walk out and as I walk out my dress, the wind hits it,” she said. “It blows open slightly, so now I am like bare here and bare here. All of a sudden, again, a slow murmur and everybody starts clapping. We can an ovation for just standing there! In that moment, that dress became something that people still reference.” She added, “It was the craziest thing. But it just goes to show you the power of fashion.”
