Amber Valletta pulled a little something special out of her closet at the 2025 CFDA Fashion Awards.
The model, 51, wore an iconic Versace dress at the CFDA Fashion Awards, which took place in New York City on Monday, November 3. The dress, which Valletta first wore on the 2000 runway, featured an all-over green leafy design. with pops of blue. It was finished with long sleeves, a daringly low-cut neckline that plunged to her navel, a sheer skirt and a thigh-high slit, as well as crystal embellishments on her hips.
Valletta added a touch of sparkle to her jungle look with crystal earrings and a matching ring.
She made the look even more dramatic with a full beat including smokey eyelashes, long lashes, pink lips and blushed cheeks. Her strawberry blonde hair was parted to the side and styled in a blowout.
Fashion herstory! Before Jennifer Lopez turned heads in Versace’s jungle-print gown at the 2000 Grammys, Amber Valletta donned the sultry number a year before. Valletta, 49, reflected on the iconic moment while opening up about her incredible style career during a Thursday, April 13, episode of Vogue’s “Life in Looks” YouTube series. “This dress has […]
On the red carpet, Valletta posed with Donatella Versace and even hugged the designer.
Fans went wild when they saw the viral look revived via social media. “Oh my God, so Elegant and Beautiful,” one wrote via X, while another added, “She’s still unreal 🔥 eternally gorgeous.” A third gushed, “One of the most famous dresses in fashion history. It’s really beautiful.”
Valletta previously wore the look while walking in the brand’s Spring 2000 fashion show. At the time, her hair was worn down and in a voluminous hairdo. She let the number speak for itself and opted for no jewelry. Her makeup was complete with a cut crease and long lashes.
Amber Valletta Davide Maestri/Penske Media via Getty Images
The design had another moment in 2000, when Jennifer Lopez made it famous at the 42nd Grammys.
At the time, Lopez, now 56, styled the barely-there number with dangling earrings and silver rings. She wore her brunette hair in a half-up coiffure with soft curls in her ends.
Lopez reflected on the sultry moment that broke the internet in February 2024 while chatting with Vogue.
“It was a dress that other people had worn already,” Lopez explained, noting that the searches were so high that the look kick-started Google Images in 2001. She shared that her stylist at the time, Andrea Lieberman, begged her not to wear it because Donatella, 70, and Spice Girl Geri Halliwell had worn it just a few months prior. She told her stylist, “Well, you bought it, and it looks the best, so I’m going to wear it. And so I did. And it caused, you know, quite a stir.”
Jennifer Lopez’s iconic Versace dress from the 2000 Grammys almost never was. “My stylist [Andrea Lieberman] was like, ‘Please don’t wear it,’” Lopez, 54, revealed in a Thursday, February 22, episode of Vogue’s “Life in Looks,” which saw her reflect on her fashion evolution. “‘It was a dress that other people had worn already,’” Lopez […]
She added, “I guess every generation needs its iconic kind of Marilyn dress, and this is that dress for this generation. Why it became that? It was just a moment when the wind blew open, and I walked out onto the stage, and it just kinda happened.”
Lopez also shared that she “worked with Andrea Lieberman for many years” before switching to “Rob [Zangardi]. She then worked with Mariel Haenn, but still goes back to Zangardi for some appearances.