(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 Wednesday night, Addison Rae and Anitta wore bridal attire that evoked the star’s performance of “Like a Virgin” at the first VMAs, almost 40 years ago. But it was Entertainer of the Year nominee Sabrina Carpenter who went further and found a vintage dress from the Queen of Pop’s style archive.
Featuring a deep V-neckline and embellished with sequins, pearls and crystals, the white satin dress was designed (and later customized) for Madonna by celebrated fashion designer Bob Mackie. Madonna wore it to the 1991 Oscars, which she attended with Michael Jackson before performing “Sooner or Later,” a song from the movie “Dick Tracy.”
And if the strapless look exuded the glamor of old Hollywood, perhaps it was because Madonna herself had worn it as a tribute to Marilyn Monroe.
The dress was a modified version of a dress 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 her dress for the 1991 Oscars.”
She also noted that the Queen of Pop later wore the tight dress in the pages of her controversial and popular coffee table book from 1992, “Sex.” The dress was later worn by Fran Drescher during a 1994 episode of “The Nanny.”
Mackie designed the red carpet looks of some of the biggest stars of the 20th century, including Monroe, Diana Ross and Cher, for whom he produced the iconic stunning headdress that she wore to the 1986 Oscars. Dresses from her archive have resurfaced in recent years, and Anya Taylor-Joy, Katy Perry, Zendaya and Miley Cyrus have all worn pieces from her archive on red carpets. Kim Kardashian also controversially wore a dress that Mackie drew for Marilyn Monroe at the 2022 Met Gala (a wardrobe choice that Mackie called it a “big mistake” and told Entertainment Weeky at the time: “It was designed for (Monroe). “No one else should wear that dress.”
Carpenter’s stylist, Jared Ellner, said on Instagram that he acquired Madonna’s dress through Los Angeles vintage clothing studio Tab Vintage. He 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 we had in that style and we are very happy with what she chose.”
It was a big night for Carpenter, who was nominated for seven awards in a banner year that saw her top the US Billboard 200 albums chart for the first time.
After 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.”
At that point, she had already traded in her vintage Mackie dress for a corset bodysuit designed by Victoria’s Secret. But her stage outfit, which took more than 180 hours to make and featured 18,500 hand-applied glass beads, was very much in keeping with her resplendent predecessor.
And Carpenter wasn’t done with the Madonna references. Unless, of course, the kiss she shared with a dancer in an alien costume was only coincidentally similar to the star’s hug with Britney Spears at the 2003 VMAs (although her performance’s earlier reference to “Oops!… I Did It Again” suggested that Carpenter may have been playing Spears’ role at the time.)
