Fashion

This Grammys Dress Defined The 2000s

by Julia Musto

Once upon a time at the the 42nd Grammy Awards, Jennifer Lopez showed up in the most Internet breaking dress of all time on the arm of then boyfriend P. Diddy. Or, at the very least, of that time. Oh yes, Kim Kardashian West was certainly not the first celebrity to "break the Internet." Before there was Kim K and the Jenners there was the "Get Right" singer at the 2000 Grammys in the infamous green dress. Although, is it still considered a dress if you can see past her belly button?

This tropical sheer green silk-chiffon Versace dress made tremendous waves both at the awards and online. At the time Google was a young company, but they took notice when this dress became the most searched for query ever. Their co-founders took note and developed Google Image Search in response, according to an essay Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of the company, wrote for Project Syndicate. You can look at random photos of puppies and shirtless Liam Hemsworth because of Lopez's infamous dress. Thank you, J. Lo!

The dress itself was designed by Donatella Versace in the wake of her brother Gianni's death, and is considered a turning point in her career. The garment has had an illustrious history. About a month prior to the Grammy's Spice Girl Geri Halliwell wore the exact same dress to the NRJ Music Awards in France, but failed to receive a proportionate response. Additionally, at the 2000 Oscars South Park creator Matt Stone dressed in the same dress to promote the movie South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut.

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US Weekly reported that eleven years later, H&M teamed up with Versace to create a garment inspired by the dress, and the collection it was part of sold out in the first weekend. Lopez still owns the original gown, Huffington Post reported, and has stated that she would wear something similar again!

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In fact, she sort of did. Jenny-from-the-Block wore a version of the same dress at a concert in the Bronx last year. She also included a jumpsuit version in her 2014 music video for "I Luh Ya Papi."

Much like Lopez herself, it seems as if this is a dress and a moment in fashion and celebrity history that will never die. Sixteen years later, the dress is still widely remembered in one context or another, and J. Lo's career in music and in fashion continues to inspire women all over the world.

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