(CNN) –Madonna was everywhere in the MTV Video Music Awards this year in New York, and I wasn't even there.
In the red carpet On Wednesday night, Addison Rae and Anitta wore wedding attire that evoked the star’s performance of “Like a Virgin” at the first VMAs nearly 40 years ago. But it was Entertainer of the Year nominee Sabrina Carpenter who went one step further, finding a vintage gown from the Queen of Pop’s style archive.
Featuring a plunging V-neckline and embellished with sequins, pearls and crystals, the white satin gown was designed (and then custom-made) for Madonna by celebrity fashion designer Bob Mackie. Madonna wore it to the 1991 Oscars, which she attended alongside Michael Jackson before performing “Sooner or Later,” a song from the film “Dick Tracy.”
And if the strapless look exuded old Hollywood glamour, perhaps it was because Madonna herself had worn it as a tribute to Marilyn Monroe.
The dress was a modified version of a gown Madonna had previously worn for a Vanity Fair cover shoot with photographer Steven Meisel. In recognition of Carpenter's tribute, Mackie, 84, He told the story through his official Instagram account this Wednesday night.
“Maria Schiavo, a well-known fashion stylist, asked me to borrow a sample of this dress for a Madonna cover shoot for Vanity Fair,” Mackie recalled. “Less than a week later, Madonna herself called me and asked for her own version of the dress for the 1991 Academy Awards.”
She also noted that the Queen of Pop later wore the tight dress in the pages of her controversial and popular 1992 coffee table book, “Sex”. The dress was later worn by Fran Drescher during a 1994 episode of “The Nanny.”
Mackie designed the red carpet looks for some of the biggest stars of the 20th century, including Monroe, Diana Ross and Cher, for whom he produced the iconic imposing headdress which she wore to the 1986 Oscars. Dresses from her archive have resurfaced in recent years, with Anya Taylor-Joy, Katy Perry, Zendaya, and Miley Cyrus all wearing pieces from her archive on red carpets. Kim Kardashian also controversially wore a dress Mackie drew for Marilyn Monroe to the 2022 Met Gala (a wardrobe choice that Mackie called it a “big mistake” and told Entertainment Weekly at the time: “It was designed for[Monroe]. No one else should be wearing that dress.”
Carpenter's stylist Jared Ellner said on Instagram that he acquired Madonna's dress through Los Angeles-based vintage clothing studio Tab Vintage. She completed her look with a diamond necklace and other jewelry from De Beers.
Tab Vintage founder Alexis Novak told Vogue that Ellner and Carpenter had approached her with a “really amazing moodboard.” She added: “We sent them a selection of pieces that we had in that style and we’re really happy with what she chose.”
It was a big night for Carpenter, who was nominated for seven awards in a breakout year that saw her top the US Billboard 200 albums chart for the first time.
Following her spectacular arrival on the red carpet, she performed a medley of her hits “Espresso” (which later won the VMA for Song of the Year), “Please Please Please” and “Taste.”
By that time, she had already traded her vintage Mackie dress for a corset-style bodysuit designed by Victoria's Secret. But her onstage outfit, which took more than 180 hours to make and featured 18,500 hand-applied crystal beads, was very much in keeping with its glittering predecessor.
And Carpenter wasn’t done with Madonna references. Unless, of course, the kiss she shared with a dancer in an alien costume only coincidentally resembled the star’s embrace with Britney Spears at the 2003 VMAs (although her performance’s earlier reference to “Oops!… I Did It Again” suggested Carpenter might have been playing Spears at the time).
