che hunt for double looks has begun: will everything go smoothly in the name of the first times? Or at the next Oscars 2023 will we see some stars show off a dress already worn by another celebrity? Waiting to find out, we’ll unlock some memories for you
The appointment with the Oscars 2023 is set for March 13th: once the starry carpet has been rolled out, we will once again see the biggest stars of the film industry (and not only) tread the red carpet wearing wonderful clothes, a source of dream and wonder. The Academy Awards haven’t started yet, but we’re already ready for the places to sift through the most beautiful dresses… and any duplicate look. Yes, because even those – history teaches us – are (almost) never lacking. Here are the most unforgettable ones.
Julia Roberts in Valentino Haute Couture as Lorella Cuccarini
It was the year 2001: Julia Roberts won the Academy Award for Best Actress with Erin Brockovich. For the red carpet, the American actress chose to wear a 1992 Valentino Haute Couture dress, a wonderful archival piece. Her look was so impeccable that later even the couturier Valentino Garavani himself commented as follows: “I have dressed so many people, but I have to be honest, the person who made me really happy was Julia Roberts when she received the Academy Award for Erin Brockovich. I used to watch her on television and I was so glad she was wearing my dress!”. But where had we seen it before?
Eight years before, it was Lorella Cuccarini in Sanremo 1993 who sported the exact same dress. The famous showgirl joined the then conductor Pippo Baudo during the Italian song festival. The Valentino Haute Couture dress, just as we would later see it again at the 2001 Academy Awards, was enhanced by gathered hair and a pair of precious earrings.
Reese Witherspoon in Chanel as Kirsten Dunst
Vox populi tells that Reese Witherspoon spent the 2006 Golden Globes night wearing her coat all the time. She didn’t quite go like this, and the photographs testify to it. However, the truth is that her Chanel dress – a delightful midi dress with a bell skirt and silver sequin appliqués – had already been shown off on another red carpet.
The double look? She had been the actress and former model Kirsten Dunst to show it off exactly three years earlier, among other things at the same event: the Golden Globes 2003. It must be said that the two actresses also chose a rather similar look! Sandals with straps and gathered hair for both.
Pink and Shakira, twins at Balmain
Not at all disturbed by the discovery that you’ve worn a duplicate look at the same time, in the same place. Pink and Shakira at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards looked like twins. And they played down the identical look – featuring a little black bandeau dress by Balmain, in black leather and with an elaborate application of tiny studs – indulging (together) in interviews and photo shoots.
Dua Lipa and Meghan Thee Stallion, twins in Versace
“You stole my look!”. “I thought I had the exclusive!”. “I’ll have to talk to Donatella”. It is the witty exchange between Dua Lipa and Megan Thee Stallion, identical in the same Versace dress – the iconic Safety Pin Dress! – At the Grammy Awards 2022. In the middle of their (fake) fight on stage, here comes Donatella Versace herself: she removes a safety pin from each dress, shortens Dua’s dress and reveals Megan’s latex leggings . What did this sketch remind us of?
Impossible to forget them. It was 1998 when they were at the MTV Awards Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey to be the first to propose an identical sketch. The two divas wore the same brown Vera Wang dress on that occasion. A true nineties fashion moment.
Arisa in Rick Owens as Laura Marzadori
Among the very recent episodes of double look there is also the Arisa’s look at Sanremo 2023. Shortly before the singer’s performance on the stage of the Ariston Theater, her black leather dress designed by American designer Rick Owens had already been shown off – on the same stage – a few minutes before her.
Laura Marzadori, 1st violin of La Scala in Milan, had in fact chosen the same black leather dress. Also thanks to the different hairstyles, the same final results were very different: jewels and tulle gloves for Arisa, a single precious bracelet for the violinist. Who wore it best?
Jennifer Lopez in Versace as Geri Halliwell
Yes. It’s just that dress. It is precisely the famous Jungle Dress by Versace. Jennifer Lopez wore it for the first time at the 2000 Grammy Awards: it was the dawn of a new millennium, and that would not be her one and only time in the famous dress of the Italian fashion house. Later, this fashion moment was dusted off on the catwalk, during the Versace spring-summer 2020 show in Milan. But be careful to give her all the credit for the primacy.
Just a month ahead of JLo, had been Geri Halliwell of Spice Girls wearing the Jungle Dress at the 2000 NRJ Music Awards. But to the question “Who wore it best?” she would seem to have already answered the story: under the heading “Jungle Dress” today it is impossible not to think (first of all) of Jennifer Lopez.
