The Dress Is Back! Jennifer Lopez Rewears Iconic Green Versace Dress During SNL Monologue
What’s old is new again … is new again.
Jennifer Lopez hosted Saturday Night Live over the weekend and, true to form, she surprised the audience at the end of her monologue with the Radio City Rockettes when she ripped off her black and white tuxedo to show the now iconic jungle-print Versace dress that she first wore at the 2000 Grammy Awards.
Lopez also wore the dress when she hosted the late night sketch show in 2001.
The 50-year-old brought the dress back into the fashion world after a nearly 20-year reprieve just earlier this year.
In September, the singer closed Versace’s Spring 2020 fashion show in Milan wearing an updated version of the “naked” dress. Lopez was wearing this updated version on Saturday.
In honor of the 20th anniversary of the jungle print, the team at Versace revived the resort-inspired pattern in its original, tropical green color palette. And the brand’s mastermind Donatella Versace made sure to join Lopez on the catwalk for her final bow.
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In an earlier video for her YouTube channel, Lopez reflected on the impact the dress had when she first hit the carpet at the 2000 Grammys.
“All of a sudden you start hearing a little murmur. I’m thinking, it’s the Grammys. It has to be somebody famous behind us,” she recalled stepping out of her car. “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 carpet, she ran backstage to present the first award of the evening with David Duchovny. “Me totally unsuspecting, walk out and as I walk out my dress, the wind hits it. 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 get an ovation for just standing there!” she added. “In that moment, that dress became something that people still reference.”
RELATED PHOTOS: Jennifer Lopez Shares the Story Behind Her Iconic Jungle-Print Versace Dress
Although Lopez ultimately did not win a Grammy that night, the next morning she found herself on the cover of every major newspaper across the country, with all headlines pointing to the dress seen around the world — and Google.
“And small and in the corner was Santana won 11 Grammys. I was like, this man just broke records but people want to know about this dress!” she laughed. “It was the craziest thing. But it just goes to show you the power of fashion.”
