- She basically just was like,
"It's 20 years since the jungle print dress,
"we're doing a whole collection on it.
"Would you walk at the end?"
And I was like, "Yeah."
[electronic music]
All right, let's talk about the dress.
At the time of the GRAMMYs in 2000,
I was obviously nominated for a GRAMMY,
and I was getting ready to go.
I was also working on a movie called "The Wedding Planner".
I remember I was on the set, and I had to have my fitting
for the GRAMMYs on the set.
My stylist at the time, Andrea Lieberman,
she had a bunch of stuff,
but it was all like nothing really special.
I was like, "Eh," it was a bust,
and we were like, "Okay, well fine,"
and she was like, "Well, I don't know,"
she was, "I'll try to pull some more stuff
"together for the day," and I was like,
"Okay, because I don't have anything to wear if you don't."
She came with like three dresses,
which I'm very spoiled now, people come with 1000 dresses
when they come to do a fitting for me,
but that day, there was like two or three dresses,
and I'm looking, and I'm like, "Okay,"
and it was like a white one and a green one
and then one of the ones that we had tried in the trailer,
which was a no.
And then I tried on the green one,
and when I came out everyone was there, Glam and everybody,
and they were like, "That's the dress,
"that is the dress, that's what you're wearing, let's go."
And then Andrea, my stylist, was like,
"No, you can't wear that one."
I was like, "Why did you bring it then?"
She was like, "No, it's just you can't wear that one,
"somebody else has worn it.
"Actually Donatella herself has worn it,
"one of the Spice Girls had worn it,
"Sandra Bullock has worn it in another color."
I was like, I said, "This is what we're gonna wear.
"This is it."
I really didn't think about it.
I didn't think it was all that risque to be honest.
I was more excited that it was the GRAMMYs;
I wasn't really even thinking about the dress that much.
I was just glad I had something to wear.
As I got to the red carpet, it was really crowded,
and we were trying to get through,
and all of a sudden, everybody just started moving
so we could pass through,
and I was like, "This is weird,"
and there was just like a little buzz in the air,
like people started yelling and screaming.
Obviously they always yell and scream your name,
but it was just there was something extra about it.
They took me right backstage,
and were like, "You have to go straight to stage,
"you have to go straight to stage."
And again, when we walked out onto the stage,
this murmur in the crowd, [cheers]
and then just everybody started clapping,
and I was like smiling, kind of like
just trying to be normal, as you can be on the GRAMMY stage.
It was just one of those perfect moments.
I walked out on stage and it kind of blew open,
and the dress was just provocative enough, I guess,
to make people really interested.
It's like when Marilyn's dress blew up,
and even though she held it down,
it was still like, "Oh my god,"
and because it was cut up to here and cut down to there,
with just like a jeweled panty underneath,
and when it blew open and then this was open,
everybody was like, "What's gonna happen next?"
It's nothing, it was all taped down.
But that was the moment that kind of
captured people's imaginations, I think,
and Google Images didn't exist at the time
and Sergey and those guys over there
where people were searching to try
to find a picture of the dress,
and so they created Google Images search.
Donatella and I talk about it sometimes,
and we just usually mention it as the dress:
"You know the dress, the dress, the dress,
"we're going to do something with the dress."
- The Gianni Versace Award is about
recognizing an individual who is fearless,
fabulous, and a creative force of our time.
She also made fashion history.
- Me and Donatella met at the Met Ball one year,
I think it was my first Met Ball,
and I sat with her and Gianni had just died.
When I sat next to her I could just kind of feel her pain,
I could feel how sad and devastated she still was.
I put my hand on her back and I held her hand,
and I didn't really know it was the first night I met her,
but I just did that most of the night while I was there,
and then she always remembered that.
She always remembered that and we became very connected.
I want to thank Donatella, obviously,
Versace for her kindness, friendship, and generosity
to me over the years.
So I thank you for allowing me
to be part of you and your brother's vision.
Thanks.
I love you.
Thanks again for the green dress. [laughs]
Thank you.
- [Donatella] Okay Google.
Show me images of the Versace jungle dress.
- [Google Voice] Have a look at these pictures.
- [Donatella] Now show me the real jungle dress.
- In terms of my career,
this dress really marked the moment in time.
If you don't know my music and you don't know my movie,
people know about that moment and that dress.
That was it.
It was amazing, there was so much energy out there.
- I know, oh my god,
everybody loved it. - It's just the power of
a moment in time. - It's a women power.
- Women's power. - Women power,
that's what it is. - A moment in time,
the power of fashion, the power of putting beautiful things
out into the world and celebrating beautiful moments
in life, that's what it is. - And giving joy, give joy.
- Yes, it gives joy, yeah. - Everybody love it.
- [Jennifer] We had a great time.
[electronic music]