Liz Hurley
The item: safety-pin dress
Until the moment she was draped on
then-boyfriend Hugh Grant’s arm at the premiere of Four Weddings and a
Funeral in 1994, Elizabeth Hurley was pretty much an unknown. But
when she stepped on to the red carpet in a flurry of flashbulbs in that
black Gianni Versace dress held together with oversized, gold,
strategically placed safety pins, she was an instant star. The dress is
probably Versace’s best-known creation, received global coverage in
newspapers and magazines around the world and made him a household name.
Hurley said, “That dress was a favour
from Versace because I couldn’t afford to buy one. His people told me
they didn’t have any evening wear, but there was one item left in their
press office. So I tried it on and that was it. Unlike many other
designers, Versace designs clothes to celebrate the female form rather than eliminate it.”
Jennifer Lopez
The item: plunging sheer green Versace dress, Grammy Awards, 2000
J.Lo made jaws drop when she attended
the 42nd Grammys award show in a plunging sheer silk chiffon green
Versace gown. Designed by Donatella Versace, it is a see-through dress
with a tropical leaf pattern and bamboo, and a studded crotch. The dress
had a low-cut neck that extended several inches below her navel, where
it was loosely fastened with a sparkly brooch and then opened out again,
exposing her midriff, and was cut along the front of the legs like a
bath robe. Only afterwards was it revealed that Lopez was able to keep
the dress on using double-sided tape.
Images of Lopez in the green dress were
downloaded from the Grammy website 642,917 times in just 24 hours. Jen
said, “It was a nice dress. I had no idea it was going to become such a
big deal.” Donatella Versace later revealed that the dress was the
turning point of her career because the media now had confidence in her
work after the death of her brother, Gianni.
Kate Middleton
The item: wedding dress
Two billion people tuned in to catch the
royal wedding in April 2011 and the big question was, ‘what will she
wear?’. Fashion critics had been waiting with bated breath to find out
not only who the privileged designer of the dress would be, but also
what the gown – which had been shrouded in secrecy and security for
weeks – would look like. And it certainly did not disappoint. Designed
by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen,
it was made from French Chantilly lace, English Cluny lace and ivory
and white satin gazar. The dress was made to resemble an opening flower
and design details included individual hand-cut flowers decorating the
bodice and nine-foot train.
Pippa Middleton
The item: bridesmaid’s dress
It was unlikely she would outshine her
sister, the blushing bride, but Pippa Middleton in that bridesmaid’s
dress certainly came close. The slinky white cowl-necked Sarah Burton
design showed off her slender figure, while the cap sleeves kept it
youthful. The back of the dress was studded with tiny silk-covered
buttons and landed Pippa with the nickname Her Royal Hotness, as two
billion-watchers worldwide envied her bottom!
Marilyn Monroe
The item: white halter-neck dress
The white halter-neck dress that Marilyn
Monroe wore in the 1955 movie ‘The Seven Year Itch’ is a movie classic.
The dress was created by costume designer William Travilla and was worn
in that famous scene, where Monroe stands above a subway grating as the
dress blows up around her shoulders. And it showed off Marilyn’s
flirtatious nature to a T!
Madonna
The item: pink cone bra
During her Blonde Ambition tour in 1990,
Madonna revealed some of the most ambitious outfits of her career. This
show-stopping pink cone bra ensemble, designed by her frequent fashion
collaborator Jean-Paul Gaultier, remains one of the Queen of Pop’s most
infamous looks. Madonna has changed her look countless times over the
past 30 years, this is one signature look she will always be famous for.
She popularized the gravity-defying underwear during her tour, igniting
a lingerie-as-outerwear trend that is still going strong more than 20
years later. Just take a look at Lady Gaga.
Geri Halliwell
The item: Union Jack dress
Victoria Beckham
may be the fashion designer of the Spice Girls but Geri was the fashion
icon in her Union Jack dress at the 1997 Brit Awards. The black Gucci
mini dress which Geri was given to perform in concerned her, as she
thought it was too “boring”. She decided she wanted to “celebrate being
British”, so she asked her sister to stitch on a Union Jack tea towel to
the front as a patriotic gesture. Images of the dress made the front
page of newspapers around the world; it’s now remembered as one of the
iconic pop moments of the 1990s. In 1998, a year after Ginger Spice Geri
performed in the dress, she auctioned it off for £41,320. Not bad for a
tea towel …
Kylie Minogue
The item: gold hotpants
Kylie Minogue
really set pulses racing when she stepped out in a tiny pair of gold
lame hot pants for the video to promote her comeback single, ‘Spinning
Around’, in 2000. She was 32 when she wore the iconic shorts but the
eternally youthful Aussie managed to pull off a look that gave rebirth
to the shorts of the ‘60s. The bum-skimming, figure hugging shorts were
later insured for a whopping £1million after they were deemed an
important part of pop history – even though her stylist William Baker
picked them up at a London market for 50p!
Audrey Hepburn
The item: Little Black Dress
Audrey Hepburn’s Little Black Dress and
pearls from ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ encapsulates the best of old school
Hollywood glamour. Designed by Givenchy, Audrey wore the elegant gown
in the opening scene of the 1961 romantic comedy. The dress is cited as
one of the most iconic items of clothing in the history of the 20th
century and perhaps the most famous “little black dress” of all time. In
the film, Audrey sets it off perfectly with a matching pair of
elbow-length black gloves and pearls.
Bjork
The item: swan dress
Not all famous outfits are famous for
the right reasons. Some are just outright bizarre and Bjork’s infamous
‘swan’ dress – designed by Marjan Pejoski – definitely falls in to that
category. It holds the dubious honour of regularly topping ‘Worst Dress’
polls and Bjork’s bizarre decision to dress as a swan to attend the
Academy Awards back in 2001 has definitely earned her a place in the
fashion history books – for all the wrong reasons.
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