Jennifer Lopez has one of the most recognizable faces in entertainment right now. And what a face it is. The actress, singer, and dancer has often been praised for how good she looks “for her age,” but don’t try that backhanded compliment with her. She’s not likely to take it sitting down.
Born in 1969 in the Bronx borough of New York City, Lopez stole the nation’s hearts with her performance in the 1997 hit biopic “Selena” and hasn’t stopped since. Now in her 50s, Lopez is arguably one of the most influential Latin performers in the world. Her movies have grossed over $3 billion, and she has sold around 80 million copies of her musical recordings worldwide.
In addition to performing, she has clothing lines, perfumes, and a charity that provides medical care to disadvantaged children. The star has incredible skills: singing, dancing, acting and producing. What you may not know is that she has 14-year-old twins. She married Marc Anthony in 2004 and had a set of fraternal twins, Emme and Maximilian.
Lopez and Anthony split up in 2011. The divorce was finalized in 2014, and Lopez got primary custody of the twins. Lopez made headlines when it was reported she had found love once again with someone from her past – Ben Affleck. The pair famously dated during the early 2000s but parted ways before finding their way back to each other two decades later. They married in July 2022.
One thing Lopez is well known for is her style and sense of fashion, most iconic of which was the plunging green Versace gown she wore to the Grammys in 2000. More recently, she made headlines again with another number, this time an over-the-top bejeweled wedding dress.
Jennifer Lopez (2019) (James Devaney/GC Images/Getty Images)
In 2022, Lopez starred in the romantic comedy “Marry Me” alongside Owen Wilson and Latin heartthrob Maluma. The movie follows the life of superstar Kat Valdez, played by Lopez, who planned to marry her popstar fiancé played by Maluma in a highly publicized stage wedding. But when she learned he had been cheating on her, she instead chooses a random man from the crowd, played by Wilson, to marry instead.
Playing a pop star in a movie wasn’t too far of a stretch for Lopez, who is arguably one of the biggest stars in Hollywood in real life. And like her own reality, her role as Valdez offered her a chance for lots of costume changes. According to the movie’s costume designer Caroline Duncan, Lopez had an innate talent for making bold fashion choices. “She cares so much about the visual, and she has a real feeling for it,” Duncan told Popsugar, adding she was thrilled to work “collaborate with someone who has such an understanding of fit and storytelling through clothing.”
Throughout the film, Lopez’s character is seen in a wide range of pieces from the likes of Versace, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman and Net-a-Porter, while some of the performance outfits were designed by Duncan. “Those looks are all breathable dance fabrics,” Duncan explained, adding “They’re all performance looks.”
However, the most out-of-this-world ensemble had to be the wedding dress Lopez’s character wears for the spectacular stage wedding. The costume designer understood the dress had to not only look beautiful on Lopez but had to have that air of drama and glamor needed to sell the film’s key scenes.
Jennifer Lopez (2019) (James Devaney/GC Images/Getty Images)
Duncan said her team knew they had found the perfect dress upon seeing it in designer Zuhair Murad’s runway bridal show. “The fact that the dress wasn’t white was a huge factor in why we all fell in love with it. It’s a rose gold with champagne notes, and it felt like it was for a woman who has been married a few times and a woman who is getting married under lights and on the stage. There was just an extra element of blush and sparkle,” Duncan said.
The dress consisted of more than nine layers of horse hair and tulle with a 25-foot train and 20-foot-long veil. It also weighed about 95 pounds. During the shooting of the film in October 2019, Lopez was spotted in the magnificently sequined dress on the streets of New York City, setting off a media firestorm just months before she had been due to wed baseball star Alex Rodriguez. While she looked radiant in the gown, Duncan confessed it wasn’t the most convenient of dresses to wear.
“The practicality of the dress, nobody loved,” Duncan said. “Because it’s so big, it took like five people to carry it and put it on Jen.” However, Duncan explained it served an important purpose in conveying the character Lopez was playing onscreen.
“The dress really takes over the wedding. And then when her fairytale doesn’t happen and she marries a stranger publicly, there’s something very stifling and claustrophobic about the dress — like she can’t get away from the public’s face; she’s in the biggest dress that’s ever been worn.”
Jennifer Lopez (2019) (James Devaney/GC Images/Getty Images)
What are your thoughts on the dress? Would you ever wear anything as dramatic in real life? Let us know and be sure to pass this on to family, friends and all the fashionistas you know.