Jennifer Lopez’s legendary Versace dress lives on at the AMAs with Mia Calabrese

The American Music Awards were this weekend, and it was a star-studded event, with the biggest names in music honored throughout the night. As usual, the red carpet was filled with show-stopping, jaw-dropping fashion, including odes to iconic moments from the past. The new generation of entertainers love paying tribute to the legends that came before them, and when it comes to awards, there is one look that has remained unforgettable - Jennifer Lopez's Versace dress that she wore to the 2000 GRAMMYS.

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Getting your mittens on a dress like this can be very difficult for a stylist, but last night, Summer House’s Mia Calabrese arrived on the purple carpet wearing a recreation of the gown. 

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While it wasn’t the original dress JLo wore over 20 years ago, according to TODAY, it was the same one the singer wore when she closed Versace’s spring 2020 Milan fashion show.

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Calabrese shared her excitement about wearing the gown on the red carpet. The 34-year-old told  Entertainment Tonight she always dreamed of one day wearing it. “Let me tell you something. I remember seeing this dress when I was a little girl, and I promised myself, if for some reason on this God’s green earth I ever have an opportunity to wear this, I’m wearing it!” She told the outlet. 

The history of the dress

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The dress has a long history that didn't start with JLo. Model Amber Valletta was the first person to wear the original iteration of the dress in September 1999 when she opened Versace’s Spring/Summer 2000 runway show in a shorter style. 

Then, Donatella Versace wore it to the 1999 MET Gala before former Spice Girls member Geri Halliwell-Horner wore it to the NRJ Music Awards in France in January 2000, right before Lopez.

Talking to Vogue, JLo told the outlet her stylist begged her not to wear it because it had already been worn. “My stylist was like, ‘Please don’t wear it. Somebody else has worn it,” she explained. 

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But Lopez followed her gut, and once she hit the carpet with her ex-boyfriend, Diddy, it became clear that she made the right decision. “I was like, ‘Well, you bought it, and it looks the best, so I’m going to wear it.’ And so I did. And it caused quite a stir,” the “This is Me... Now” singer said.

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Lopez wore the dress again to host “Saturday Night Live” for the first time back in 2001, then again in 2019 when she hosted it for the third time. 

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“Twenty years had gone by, and I think for women, knowing you can put on a dress 20 years later — it resonated,” she told Vanity Fair. “It was like, ‘Yes, you know, life is not over at 20!’”

She even compared the dress to that of Marilyn Monroe's. “I guess every generation needs its iconic kind of Marilyn dress, and this is that dress for this generation,” Lopez told Vogue in 2024. “Why did it become that? It was just a moment when the wind blew open, and I walked out onto the stage, and it just kinda happened.”