Is a dress worth a career? If we talk about the Safety pin dress, absolutely yes. It was the year 1994, precisely May 11th, when the posterboy Englishman of the moment, Hugh Grant, is decidedly overshadowed at the London premiere of the film Four weddings and a funeral, not so much by his companion and girlfriend, the then virtually unknown Elizabeth Hurley, but byblack dress with safety pins signed Versace which would have made whoever was wearing it a mega star in just a few flashes.
Elizabeth Hurley and Hugh Grant in 1994. Photo Getty
Dave Benett/Getty Images
After the event, in fact, Hurley’s life has taken a drastic turn extreme makeover. That dress, «that dress», as it was later renamed, which became viral ante litteram at the time, represents after three decades from the first appearance one of the most iconic pop culture moments of the 90s. And thanks to him, practically on everyone’s lips right away, the model was then offered to be the face of the cosmetics giant Estée Lauder, the role in one of the films of the saga Austin Powers and to launch her own swimwear line. In addition to the fact that I had the opportunity to establish a long-standing human and professional friendship with the Versace maison.
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Today the iconic dress has a life of its own, so much so that it has its own page Wikipedia like every celeb that is respected. The Safety pin dress It became legend not only for its unique design, but also because it was so unexpected change the vision of the world of fashion: you can love it or hate it, in fact, but never forget it. Here, then, five curiosities of the most famous red carpet dress in the world.
1. It launched not one, but two careers
Elizabeth Hurley was a very little-known actress and model when she set the red carpet alight in 1994. So much so that I struggled to find a brand to lend her a dress for the London premiere of her then boyfriend’s film. Hugh Grant himself confessed in the BBC documentary Hugh Grant: A Life on Screen that numerous fashion houses turned down Hurley’s request to borrow a dress for the event because they didn’t know who she was.
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Until Versace agreed to give her one: «The really interesting thing about that dress is that I had never borrowed an item of clothing before and almost no one knew Versace in England at the time. At the time the brand didn’t even have an advertising office in London”, Elizabeth Hurley later said in an interview a few years ago.
2. It changed the meaning of the red carpet
Elizabeth Hurley in 1994. Getty Photo
Dave Benett/Getty Images
