'08
For many women, you only get to wear a gorgeous, sparkling floor skimming dress once it your life. Maybe not even that often if you’re not into sparkles. For Sarah Jessica Parker, who isn’t really an A-list actress (sorry, but she’s not exactly box office gold away from Sex and the City) her movie premiere in her home town of New York was going to be huge, and she wore the princess dress. And it was fabulous.
Unfortunately, it was fabulous three weeks earlier when worn by New York socialite Lauren Santo Domingo, and photographed.
“In the big picture, this is not important, but there is a relationship between the entertainment industry and fashion,” Parker said on Thursday evening, adding. “We’ve watched sales dwindle and we’ve watched people be less inclined to spend money on clothes.” To Parker, these are reasons for companies to take particular care with their relationships. “Look, my affection for the dress hasn’t changed,” she said, “but what they did was so short-sighted. It’s just unethical and disappointing that they would allow the dress to be worn again.”
Parker says she remarked to Theyskens during the fitting that she was surprised the dress hadn’t been worn before. He assured her it hadn’t.
“He didn’t say, ‘Well, actually I just escorted Lauren down the red carpet at the Met.’ ” said Parker, adding, “I just wish it had been handled differently and they had been straight about it.”
Olivier Theyskens is the designer for Nina Ricci, who was photographed beside Lauren Santo Domingo wearing the dress. What a way to get caught out lying.
This has happened before, most notably to Reese Witherspoon, who thought she was wearing a vintage Chanel dress, but was actually wearing a 3-year-old Chanel dress that Kirsten Dunst wore before her. The next year at the Golden Globes a newly divorced and slim Reese Witherspoon wore Nina Ricci.
Is it actually that hard to find a dress that hasn’t been worn before?
I’m also a little bit surprised that Sarah Jessica Parker, who claims to dress her son in nothing but hand-me-downs, is worried about a dress being worn before. She could have just spun this out as being environmentally responsible, and that she’s worn second hand clothing right from when she was a child.
Actresses at big premieres and events where they know they are going to be photographed often hold out to the last second about choosing a dress to wear. If Sarah Jessica Parker was offering no guarantee that she would wear the Nina Ricci silver frock, I see no reason why they should hold it for her just in case.
Picture note by Celebitchy: Lindsay Lohan is shown wearing the dress in a 2007 photo shoot for Harper’s Bazaar. It is also shown on Lauren Santo Domingo, posing with designer Olivier Theyskens at the Costume Institute Gala on 5/5/08. Thanks to WENN for these photos.
Written by Helen
Posted in Fashion, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sex and the City
29 Responses to “Sarah Jessica Parker’s red carpet dress was a hand-me-down”
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No, I can understand that. Clothes are a huge part of Carrie’s trend-setting character in the series. I think she’s right to be disappointed that she ended up wearing a dress - beautiful tho’ it is - that had such a recent outing at a particularly high-profile fashion event. It kind of undermines her character’s originality.
Her clothes and very personal style are a really significant part of the whole S&TC culture and Carrie’s character in particular, and I can understand her being a bit peeved about it.
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Like your take on the “recycling” motif, Celebitchy. I think saying she re-wore the dress to be environmentally responsible would have been a great move on her part.
I wear mostly vintage clothes myself, as does my daughter - mostly because they’re pretty and unique, and because I can afford nicer fabrics with vintage. But avoiding envionmental impact is an excellent side benefit.
And Kevin, you’re right - Broderick looks awful.
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Why didn’t her husband wear a tux? His suit is so conservative and looks very out of place for this event.
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Makes a great satellite dish though I bet, or if you want to cook a turkey and don’t have anything to wrap it in.
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Too funny vdantev,,,now that I look at the picture again her lil boobies do make me hungry for some baked potatoes!
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I came into this post thinking I was going to read something very cool about how SJ recycles and actually wears hand-me-downs and doesn’t care about all that stuff, and so on. I’m pretty disappointed.
I’m also disappointed that her husband, who I thought had a lot of promise for hot and sexy when he was a teen, has turned into a stodgy old fart who doesn’t seem to know how to dress.
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I didn’t read the post to mean that she doesn’t wear hand-me-downs or second-hand or whatever. Isn’t this about her being pissed at wearing a dress for what she thought was its first public outing, and then finding out it wasn’t? For the premiere of a movie in which one of her character’s key traits is her quirky and original sense of dress?
Where does she say she’s opposed to wearing second-hand? Nowhere.
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celebitchy should be SJP’s publicist! she knows the right spin.
but honestly, I do think this was pretty shady on Ricci et. al’s part. they flat out lied. and this is a premiere for a movie that is solely about fashion and accessories so its not like it was the opening of any old action movie or something. SJP had the right to expect to premiere a dress as well. I think this is really bad for nina ricci’s business ethics.
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Yeah, I don’t get why this makes SJP bad, this is simply her response in being lied to by a company, and being lied to sucks. I thought she sounded pretty calm and realistic when she could have been a heinous bitch. That is bad business on Nina Ricci’s part.
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HEE HAW!
Err, I mean HA HA! -
I’ve tried, but it appears I can’t muster any genuine sympathy for SJP and her dress debacle. Tough shit, honey.
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I think it will be a long while before anyone considers wearing Nina Ricci for their big moment.
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Should I be feeling sorry for her and this tragic turn of events?
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With my knowledge of the fashion industry and the importance it has for premiere events (whether it is in the movie business or not): wearing a dress that has already been photographed is a difficult stunt to pull off.
Sarah Jessica Parker was handling the SATC movie premiere in SATC’s fifth main character, NYCity. This is a major event.
For those of you who don’t want ANY movie spoilers, step away from this comment right now!For the others, here’s my quick interpretation.
1. Carrie Bradshaw is the girl who’ll wear anything and everything before you’ve seen it elsewhere.
2. SJP is half-Carrie during the promotion tour and events for that SATC movie. It’s very important that she sticks a little to her character. The other ladies do so too! For example, Catrall wore quite a lot of Vivienne Westwood while promothing the movie. In the movie, she cries/gets carried away over one bride’s dress Carrie tries on (although she’s against the idea of marriage and having the whole wedding houpla), and that is a Westwood dress. That’s just one example but it does show that the styling choices are extremely important and taken in consideration. It’s about meeting somewhere between the actress and the character.
SJP wearing a dress that had already been showed off (the problem is not the dress itself being preworn but that particular design having already starred on a celebrity) is definitely very anti-Carrie Bradshaw.
The fact Theyskens lied to her does seem to be a rather bad thing. I’m surprised he did that though… I really am. -
I don’t think she would have cared if the dress had been worn before if she loved it, which she obviously did. It was the fact that he lied about it. What a dimwit. She’s going to one of the most photgraphed premieres of the summer and he’s going to lie to her and hope that one of the thousands of editors, photgraphers or bitchy websites aren’t going to find this one out. It certainly will make other stylists and actresses think twice before choosing Nina Ricci. Bad form.
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I don’t know if she still would have worn the dress. She is going to be laughed at in the press just like Reese. It was stupid to lie if the dress was worn at two high profile events. She is probably more upset she was lied to(it sounds like more than once)than the idea of wearing a dress someone else wore.
It was bad form and a stupid mistake that may prove costly in the end. Like Ron said this will be a factor when other actress chose dresses in the future. They will want someone they can trust.
If I’m not mistaken Reese didn’t buy her dress directly from Chanel (it was kind of funny that not only had someone wore it, they wore it to the same event.)
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Bad move. Very tasteless and will bite them in the ass.
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Lindsay wore the dress too, be more upset about that!:wink:
Funny take on it from Dlisted:
http://dlisted.com/node/26303The HBIC of Nina Ricci said he was “upset that she’s upset.” She didn’t even get a real apology.
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I dont get you people… Who gives a shit what you or even I think!!!!
She’s obviously doing something right, and it pays the bills and then some!!I think she’s Great!! And her husband is gorgeous and always has been!!
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Maybe its the way it looks on her but I am seriously liking that dress. She looks great!
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she looks amazing, who cares where it came from?
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I guess every woman on this website didn’t make arrangements to ensure their very special prom dress wasn’t worn by another girl in the entire school district.
For all of you to complain about SJP and her comments, you’re just rude and ridiculous. She’s a nice woman, with quiet beauty and kindness. She was disappointed that the dressmaker lied to her. I can think of a few other things that COULD have been said, but she’s too classy to say them. Leave her alone!
One more thing… she’s beautiful and loves her “dorky unfashionable” husband - who by the way… loves her back. Take the hate back to those spiteful websites - Celebitchy deserves so much better.
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I agree with most posters. Of all people, SJP at the Premier of Sex and the City in Manhattan deserves to wear a unique dress. And to be so blatantly lied to.
With the exception of the hats, I’ve loved all her dresses that she’s worn to the premieres.
And a movie starring women beat Indiana Jones!!!! Nothing against Indiana but it’s just nice to see this happen.
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I totally agree that her comments were tame considering they flat out lied to her. The point is not whether she should be happy wearing hand-me-downs. The point is they should not have lied. It’s disgusting to me and it’s all I will think of the next time I hear Nina Ricci.
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Theyskens and Nina Ricci lied and messed up an A-list promotional opportunity.
SJP was pretty gracious about it, all things considered.
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where is a photo of matthew broderick at this event? the guy shown (with lauren santo domingo) is the dress designer.
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@coconut - pics have changed since the original post. These are new pics and don’t include the one of SJP and him.
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As far as hand-me-downs go, there’s a big difference between soon-to-be-destroyed little kids clothes and a red carpet dress. I don’t see her as being hypocritical. The dress belongs to the fashion company and will probably be worn again anyhow.
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Mr. Ed wore that dress better. Her husband’s outfit is so bland,,, I always thought gay men were so much more fashion forward,,not that there is anything wrong with that.
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