Elizabeth Hurley

Elizabeth Hurley

Elizabeth Jane Hurley is an English model and actress who became known as a girlfriend of Hugh Grant in the 1990s. In 1994, as Grant became the focus of worldwide media attention due to the global box office success of his film Four Weddings and a Funeral, Hurley accompanied him to the film's Los...

 wore a black Versace

Versace

Gianni Versace S.p.A. , usually referred to as Versace, is an Italian fashion label founded by Gianni Versace in 1978.The first Versace boutique was opened in Milan's Via della Spiga in 1978, and its popularity was immediate. Today, Versace is one of the world's leading international fashion houses...

 dress, often referred to as "That Dress", when she accompanied Hugh Grant

Hugh Grant

Hugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His films have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. Grant achieved international stardom after appearing in Richard Curtis's...

 to the premiere of Four Weddings and a Funeral

Four Weddings and a Funeral

Four Weddings and a Funeral is a 1994 British comedy film directed by Mike Newell. It was the first of several films by screenwriter Richard Curtis to feature Hugh Grant...

in 1994. The dress was held together by several oversized gold safety pins. The dress is perhaps Versace's best-known creation, and is considered by some to be largely responsible for launching Hurley onto the global media stage.

Design

The black dress was made from pieces of silk

Silk

Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...

 and lycra fabric, with oversized gold safety pins placed at "strategical places". The dress was wide open at the front, from the neck down to at least half way across the bosom, with two slimline straps on the shoulders each side connected by a gold safety pin and two cut-away parts on both sides that were held together with six gold safety pins on each side and one at the top of the cut-away on each side connecting it to the bosom section.

The dress is a said to be punk-inspired, "neo-punk", and something which "emerged from the sari

Sari

A sari or sareeThe name of the garment in various regional languages include: , , , , , , , , , , , , , is a strip of unstitched cloth, worn by females, ranging from four to nine metres in length that is draped over the body in various styles. It is popular in India, Bangladesh, Nepal,...

 development" according to Gianni Versace

Gianni Versace

Gianni Versace was an Italian fashion designer and founder of Gianni Versace S.p.A., an international fashion house, which produces accessories, fragrances, makeup and home furnishings as well as clothes. He also designed costumes for the theatre and films, and was a friend of Madonna, Elton John,...

 himself.

Influence

The dress is perhaps Versace's best-known creation, as it received considerable global coverage in newspapers and magazines around the world for a long time after the event and was credited for boosting Hurley's profile, catapulting her from being a virtually unknown actress to worldwide media recognition. Hurley has also been credited for making the Versace fashion brand a household name. The brand has since, with its omnipresent Medusa

Medusa

In Greek mythology Medusa , " guardian, protectress") was a Gorgon, a chthonic monster, and a daughter of Phorcys and Ceto. The author Hyginus, interposes a generation and gives Medusa another chthonic pair as parents. Gazing directly upon her would turn onlookers to stone...

-head logo, "defined the paradoxes of a controversial, new-generation feminism which celebrates empowerment in the act of attracting and manipulating a male gaze." The dress was top in a Debenhams

Debenhams

Debenhams plc is a British retailer operating under a department store format in the UK, Ireland and Denmark, and franchise stores in other countries. The Company was founded in the eighteenth century as a single store in London and has now grown to around 160 shops...

 poll that asked 3,000 women to select their favourite iconic red-carpet dress.

In 2007, a copy of the dress worn by Hurley was put on sale for the first time – with a price tag of £10,690 – at Harrods

Harrods

Harrods is an upmarket department store located in Brompton Road in Brompton, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. The Harrods brand also applies to other enterprises undertaken by the Harrods group of companies including Harrods Bank, Harrods Estates, Harrods Aviation and Air...

, as part of an exhibition dedicated to "the little black dress" at the London store. The exhibition included the famous black dress worn by Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...

 in the 1963 movie Charade, as part of the Harrods Timeless Luxury promotion.

Controversy

Hurley said of the dress, "That dress was a favor from Versace because I couldn't afford to buy one. His [Grant's] people told me they didn't have any evening wear, but there was one item left in their press office. So I tried it on and that was it." However, some viewed the dress as a notorious one which was too brash, overtly sexually charged and revealing. Hurley said in response to comments about the revealing nature of the dress, "Unlike many other designers, Versace designs clothes to celebrate the female form rather than eliminate it."