Designer | Gucci and Geri Halliwell |
---|---|
Year | 1997 |
Type | Union Jack Gucci mini dress |
The Union Jack dress is an item of clothing worn by singer Geri Halliwell of the Spice Girls at the 1997 Brit Awards. The mini dress featured a flag of the United Kingdom, the Union Jack, on the front, and a white CND symbol emblazoned on the black-coloured back of the dress. The next day the images of the dress made the front page of various newspapers around the world, and it is now remembered as one of the most iconic pop moments of the 1990s and Brit Awards history. [1] The dress has become synonymous with the Spice Girls, Halliwell and the notions of Girl Power and Cool Britannia. [2]
In 2010, The Daily Telegraph reported that the dress came top in an online poll to find the 10 most iconic dresses of the past 50 years, beating other memorable garments such as Marilyn Monroe's white 'Seven Year Itch' halterneck. [3] In 2016, the dress was voted the "Most Inspiring British Fashion Moment" in an online poll conducted by British online retailer Very. [4]
At the 2010 Brit Awards, the Spice Girls performance that featured the Union Jack dress won Most Memorable Performance of 30 Years. [5] The dress held the Guinness World Record for the most expensive piece of popstar clothing sold at an auction. [6]
I've always tried to put my finger to the wind and feel whats going on right now, and if I feel it then you'll feel it and we'll connect it. So I thought, [it's] The Brits, why not a British flag?
The Spice Girls were scheduled to open the 1997 Brit Awards, where they were also nominated for five awards. [8] The black Gucci minidress that Halliwell was given to perform in concerned her as she thought it was too "boring". [9] Halliwell decided she wanted to "celebrate being British" and asked her sister, Natalie, to stitch a Union Jack tea towel onto the front of the black dress as a patriotic gesture. [9] To avoid being associated with the National Front, Halliwell also had the CND peace symbol stitched onto the back of the dress. [1] Halliwell wore the finished dress whilst performing a medley of "Wannabe" and "Who Do You Think You Are" at the Brit Awards on 24 February 1997. [10] The group also won two awards that evening. [8]
In 1998, a year after Halliwell performed in the dress, she auctioned it off at the London branch of Sotheby's for £41,320. [11] The buyer was Peter Morton, on behalf of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, who displayed the piece of clothing as pop memorabilia. [11] Morton bid via telephone, and beat other bidders such as The Sun . [12] Halliwell herself watched the "frenzied bid", [13] [12] and rapped the gavel after the final bid. [13] The dress was originally valued at £12,000, but the winning bid was £36,200 (£41,320 including 15% commission). [13] Halliwell gave the proceeds of the dress sale to a children's cancer care charity. [13] The BBC commented on the sale, saying it "marks the end of Geri's links with the Girl Power image of the past". [12] It held the Guinness World Record for the most expensive piece of popstar clothing dealt at auction. [6] The dress was one of many items of Spice Girls memorabilia sold at the auction, where total sales reached £146,511 for charity. [12] The auction, with Halliwell auctioning off the Union Jack dress as the final lot, can be seen in the documentary Geri by Molly Dineen.
For the 2007 Spice Girls reunion tour, named the Return of the Spice Girls, fashion designer Roberto Cavalli designed Halliwell a new Union Jack dress modelled on the original. [14] The new version appeared slightly longer and the flag was made out of rhinestones and Swarovski crystals. [14] Various media outlets reported that Halliwell had attempted to buy back the original dress before their world tour. [15]
Halliwell later said that she "liked" the new dress and that she had decided to keep it as memorabilia. [16]
In 2012, Halliwell designed a clothing range based upon the dress. [17]
For the Spice World – 2019 Tour, Halliwell wore a redesigned floor-length Union Jack dress that featured royal designs on the red stripes and also wore a crown with the dress. [18]
The Spice Girls are an English girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Mel B ; Melanie C ; Emma Bunton ; Geri Halliwell-Horner ; and Victoria Beckham. They have sold over 100 million records worldwide, making them the best-selling girl group of all time. With their "girl power" mantra, the Spice Girls redefined the girl-group concept by targeting a young female fanbase. They led the teen pop resurgence of the 1990s, were a major part of the Cool Britannia era, and became popular culture icons of the decade.
Victoria Caroline Beckham is an English fashion designer, singer, and television personality. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as a member of the girl group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Posh Spice. With over 100 million records sold worldwide, the group became the best-selling female group of all time. After the Spice Girls split in 2001, Beckham was signed to Virgin Records, in which she released her self-titled debut solo album, which produced two UK Top 10 singles. Beckham has also become an internationally recognised style icon and fashion designer. She is married to former association football player David Beckham, and they have four children, including Brooklyn and Romeo. As of May 2019, the couple's joint wealth is estimated at £355 million.
Geraldine Estelle Halliwell-Horner is an English singer, songwriter, television personality, author, and actress. She rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Ginger Spice. With over 100 million records sold worldwide, the Spice Girls are the best-selling female group of all time. Their slogan "girl power" was most closely associated with Halliwell and her Union Jack dress from the 1997 Brit Awards also became an enduring symbol. Halliwell left the Spice Girls in 1998, citing exhaustion and creative differences, but rejoined when they reunited for a greatest hits album (2007) and two concert tours: the Return of the Spice Girls (2007–2008) and Spice World (2019).
The BRIT Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trusts Show. The awards were first held in 1977 and originated as an annual event in 1982 under the auspices of the British record industry's trade association, the BPI. In 1989, they were renamed The BRIT Awards. Mastercard has been the long-term sponsor of the event. In addition, an equivalent awards ceremony for classical music, called the Classic BRIT Awards, was held annually between 2000 and 2013, before being revived in 2018 but has not been held since.
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"Wannabe" is the debut single by the British girl group the Spice Girls, released on 26 June 1996. It was written by the Spice Girls, Matt Rowe and Richard "Biff" Stannard and produced by Rowe and Stannard for the group's debut album, Spice, released in November 1996. The song was originally mixed by Dave Way, however the Spice Girls were not pleased with the result, and the recording was instead mixed by Mark "Spike" Stent. A dance-pop song, its lyrics address the value of female friendship over heterosexual relationships. It has since became a symbol of female empowerment and the most emblematic song of the group's girl power philosophy.
"Goodbye" is a song recorded by British girl group Spice Girls. It was written by the group, Richard Stannard, and Matt Rowe, while it was produced by the latter two. The song became the group's first song without the vocals of Geri Halliwell. It was released by Virgin Records on 14 December 1998 and was later included on their third studio album Forever (2000). "Goodbye" is a pop ballad that lyrically consists of the group's farewell to a friend, specifically Halliwell. The lyrics were also seen, by the media and fans alike, as the group's end, although the idea was dismissed by the members.
Cool Britannia was a name for the period of increased pride in the culture of the United Kingdom throughout the mid and second half of the 1990s, inspired by Swinging London from 1960s pop culture. This loosely coincided with John Major's conservative government and the 1997 United Kingdom general election where Tony Blair's New Labour government won in a landslide. The success of Britpop and musical acts such as Oasis, Blur and the Spice Girls were at the forefront which reflected a renewed feeling of optimism in the United Kingdom following the tumultuous years of the 1970s and 1980s. The name is a pun on the title of the British patriotic song "Rule, Britannia!"
The Spice Girls dolls are celebrity dolls based on the popular girl group the Spice Girls. They were released by Galoob Toys from 1997 to 1999. With sales of over 11 million, they are the best-selling celebrity dolls of all time.
The Spiceworld Tour was the debut concert tour by English girl group the Spice Girls. It was launched in support of their first two studio albums, Spice (1996) and Spiceworld (1997). The sell-out European/North American tour ran from February to August 1998, after which it returned to the UK in September 1998 for a series of stadium shows. The final concert at London's Wembley Stadium was filmed and broadcast live on pay-per-view, for later VHS release in 1998 and eventual DVD release in 2008.
The Return of the Spice Girls Tour was the third concert tour by English girl group the Spice Girls, running from December 2007 to February 2008. It was the group's first tour since Christmas in Spiceworld (1999), a small British holiday-season tour, and their first tour with all five members since the Spiceworld Tour (1998)—of which only four members were present for the North American leg, as Geri "Ginger Spice" Halliwell had left the group in May 1998.
"Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)" is a song by English girl group the Spice Girls for their greatest hits album Greatest Hits (2007). It was written by the Spice Girls, Richard Stannard and Matt Rowe, whilst produced by the latter two. It was released as the only single from the album on 5 November 2007 by Virgin Records. The song was the first commercial single release to feature the group's original lineup since Geri Halliwell left in 1998. It was also the official Children in Need single of 2007. It is their last studio single to date.
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