Lupita Nyong'o's Calvin Klein Dress Returned to the Scene of the Crime

image

Lupita Nyong’o in her pearl-covered Calvin Klein gown at the Oscars. Photo: Getty Images

Who knows where the police were looking for Lupita Nyong’o’s Oscar dress after it was stolen from The London Hotel in West Hollywood two days ago, but we’re guessing it wasn’t the scene of the crime.

The Los Angeles Times reports that an anonymous caller told the police they’d dropped the dress off at the hotel just 48 hours after it went missing. Without self-identifying as the thief, the caller said they tried to sell the dress—or, to be honest, its more than 6,000 allegedly natural pearls—in downtown L.A.’s Garment District. Since the 2015 Academy Awards on Sunday night, Nyong’o’s dress has been valued at everything from $150,000 to $10 million, so it’s not shocking that someone would try to make off with the custom-made dress (Calvin Klein declined to confirm any number when we reached out for comment.) It turns out, however, that the pearls aren’t so natural. “The caller took the dress to the garment district in downtown L.A. and discovered the pearls were fake,” said Nicole Nishida, spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Since they weren’t able to sell it off, they brought it back—which is nice? Kind of?  Another spokesperson for the Sheriff's department, Michael White, added, "The dress appears to be intact, but some of the smaller pearls are falling off."

Nyong’o designed the dress with Calvin Klein’s creative director, Francisco Costa. At the Oscars, she told us, “It was so much fun to create this dress. We talked about it being fluid and liquid. I wanted it to be an homage to the sea.” The actress, who took home the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in 12 Years A Slave last year, stunned, and her dress was the talk of the town even before it was stolen. It was so spectacular, that the Times reports the Sheriff’s department actually displayed the dress at the press conference announcing its recovery. After this week’s caper, it just might be the most famous gown in Oscar history.