Union Jack dress

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Union Jack dress
Geri Halliwell Union Jack Dress.jpg
Designer Gucci and Geri Halliwell
Year1997
TypeUnion 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 peace 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]

Contents

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]

Background and history

I've always tried to put my finger to the wind and feel what's 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?

–Halliwell in an interview with Vogue [7]
Sign of the Hard Rock Cafe Las Vegas, where the dress is displayed. Hard Rock Cafe guitar sign (Las Vegas).jpg
Sign of the Hard Rock Cafe Las Vegas, where the dress is displayed.

The Spice Girls were scheduled to open the 1997 Brit Awards, where they were nominated for five awards. [8] Halliwell was given a black Gucci minidress to perform in, which she deemed too "boring". [9] Deciding to "celebrate being British", she 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 dress at the Brit Awards on 24 February 1997, where the group accepted two awards and performed a medley of "Wannabe" and "Who Do You Think You Are". [10] [8]

Sale

In 1998, a year after Halliwell performed in the dress, she auctioned it off at the London branch of Sotheby's for £41,320(equivalent to £91,838 in 2023). [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. The dress was originally valued at £12,000, but the winning bid was £36,200 (£41,320 including 15% commission). 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 for charity reached £146,511(equivalent to £325,636 in 2023). [12]

2007 remake

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]

2012 clothing range

In 2012, Halliwell designed a clothing range based upon the dress. [17]

2019 version

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]

2025 Bilton school incident

In July 2025, Courtney Wright, a 12-year-old girl, wore a Halliwell inspired Union Jack dress for a cultural heritage day at her school in Bilton. The school forbade her from attending the event while wearing this dress and from delivering a speech she wrote on British culture. [19] The girl said that teachers told her the dress was inappropriate and that only other, non-British, cultures can be celebrated in this event, and she was sent to sit in the reception office until her father collected her. [20] The school has apologized to the girls' family. The incident provoked many reactions, including a statement by Keir Starmer that “being British is something to be celebrated [20] [19] [21]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Smith, Sean (2019). Spice Girls: The Story of the World's Greatest Girl Band. HarperCollins. pp. 139–140. ISBN   978-0-00-826756-8.
  2. ↑ "Geri revisits Spice Girls' heyday in Union Jack dress". HELLO!. 2 February 2012. Archived from the original on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  3. ↑ Alexander, Hilary (19 May 2010). "Online poll announces the top ten most iconic dresses of the past fifty years – Telegraph". fashion.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  4. ↑ "This Spice Girls Outfit Tops List of the Most Inspiring British Fashion Moments". Footwear News. 6 October 2016.
  5. ↑ Amy de Klerk (22 February 2017). "It has been 20 years since Geri Halliwell wore the Union Jack dress". Harper's Bazaar.
  6. 1 2 Bruce DeMara (27 February 2008). "Spice Girls end tour in Toronto". thestar.com. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  7. ↑ "Ginger Spice on the Story Behind Her Iconic Union Jack Dress". Vogue. 19 March 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  8. 1 2 "The Brits 1997". Brit Awards. Archived from the original on 13 August 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  9. 1 2 Sophie Eager (1 April 2010). "Geri Halliwell's infamous Union Jack dress was tea towel". Monsters and Critics. Archived from the original on 5 April 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  10. ↑ "It has been 20 years since Geri Halliwell wore the Union Jack dress". Harper’s Bazaar. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  11. 1 2 Barnes, Anthony (21 January 2010). "Geri Halliwell auctions her famous Union Jack dress". The Independent . London. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "Entertainment | Ginger Spice sells out". BBC News. 16 September 1998. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  13. 1 2 "News – Articles – 1429897". Mtv.com. 16 September 1998. Archived from the original on 6 July 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  14. 1 2 "Recycled Spice! Geri brings back the Union Jack as 'Golden Girls' kick off world tour". London Evening Standard . 7 December 2007. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  15. ↑ "Geri Halliwell's Union Jack dress (1997) – Notorious BRIT Awards moments – Pictures – Music". Virgin Media. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  16. ↑ "Geri: 'I looked like a drag queen'". metro.co.uk. 13 May 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  17. ↑ "Geri revisits Spice Girls' heyday in Union Jack dress". Hello Magazine. 2 February 2012. Archived from the original on 21 May 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  18. ↑ "Spice Girls first review: Geri Horner pays homage to THAT Union Jack dress as they return to stage". mirror.co.uk. 24 May 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  19. 1 2 Weale, Sally (15 July 2025). "Girl in union flag dress barred from giving speech on school's 'culture day'". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 16 July 2025.
  20. 1 2 Martin, Daniel (15 July 2025). "No 10 backs girl 'punished' by school for wearing Union flag dress". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 16 July 2025.
  21. ↑ Elliot Ball (15 July 2025). "Warwickshire school apologises to girl over culture day speech refusal". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 16 July 2025.
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