In a new edition of Vogue’s “Life in Looks” fashion series, Salma Hayek takes us through some of her most iconic looks throughout her career. Today, the Mexican actress is one of Hollywood’s most recognized stars not only on screen but on the red carpet too. However, like many actors who struggled to captivate the fashion world at the beginning of their careers, Salma was forced to be creative with her sartorial choices. “At the time, not many people wanted to dress me because I wasn’t well known,” she says about her second look.
In 1997, Salma wore a stunning shimmering white Armani dress to the Oscars the first time she presented at the prestigious awards show. “I’m very grateful to Mr. Armani for supporting me at the beginning of my career,” she adds.
Another memorable style moment for Salma was at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1998. The brunette beauty opted for a simple black dress and because she didn’t have much jewelry at the time, Salma got creative by applying temporary butterfly tattoos on her neck, chest and arms. “I thought butterflies would be nice. It was my design to make the dress more interesting,” she says. “I was very proud actually to come up with something interesting. “They were really hard to come across. I might have painted them, because stickers weren’t probably existing at the time.”
Salma continues to explain a couple of more looks she rocked in the late ‘90s – some of which we’d love to wear today, to be honest. However, at the time, the Like A Boss star was working with what she could to make herself stand out on the red carpet.
“A lot of these looks, it was just my creativity, trying to struggle with the fact that I didn’t have a lot of resources, and I’m very proud that it was my imagination, you know, that made me create these looks,” she says.
Nowadays, the Frida star has access to the world’s most prestigious fashion brands.
“After suffering so much with what am I going to wear, nobody wants to dress me, it’s so nice that now I have access to like the best brands in the world and I have to say that the Gucci team always know how to deal with my body and make it look good,” she states in the clip.
Regardless, Salma doesn’t look back at her early experimental-style days as an embarrassment but rather a delight.
“I have to say, sometimes I look at the clothes that I wore in the past and I go what was I thinking? But then I feel proud of that girl, that sometimes, not with a lot of resources, had fun, and took chances to be creative.”