Ginger Spice on the Story Behind Her Iconic Union Jack Dress - Vogue

One of the most iconic moments in ’90s pop culture history came when the Spice Girls performed at the 1997 Brit Awards. Ginger Spice—Geri Horner, née Halliwell—stepped onto the stage wearing an unforgettable piece: her Union Jack dress. The costume went on to make headlines across the globe, becoming a symbol for girl power and unity along the way. “I had no idea the reaction that was going to come,” Horner says. But do you know the exact story behind the look? For a new Vogue video, shot at the Ritz London, Horner recalled how the symbolic frock came to be.

Horner remembers that year’s Brit Awards as an exciting time for the group. They had just released their debut album, Spice, the year before. “It felt like everything we had worked for led up to that moment,” she says, adding that she wanted to choose a performance look to reflect this vibrant feeling. “I remember this little black Gucci dress got presented to me. It was almost like a 1950s, Marilyn-shape swimming costume. Tom Ford was working with Gucci at that time,” Horner says. Unconvinced the dress was special enough, however, she then had an aha moment: “I remember thinking, It’s the Brits—British flag!”

To make her design come to life—“I’ve always been a secret fashion designer,” she joked—Horner had to get creative. “I don’t know if this is true, but you’re not meant to cut up a flag,” she said. “So I found a tea towel. My sister did it, because she’s better at sewing than I am.” On the back, they also sewed on a giant peace sign, to combat a concern that Horner’s stylist had at the time. “I remember showing [the dress] to a stylist and she said to me, ‘You can’t wear that—it’s National Front,’ an extreme party that existed in Britain that was very racist,” Horner says. “I said, ‘No, stop—we celebrate all cultures.’ And that’s why I put the peace sign on the back.” Horner also added custom go-go boots. “My father’s a mechanic, and I had car spray from the garage and sprayed it red to match,” she says. “The length of the dress is the sexuality, and the big bobber boots are saying, ‘You’re not going to mess with me.’”

The following day, Horner remembers the dress causing a total frenzy. “I woke up the next morning, and that picture of me in the dress was on the front page of every newspaper,” she says. “That dress really became the identity of what girl power stood for. People would wear their own version of it. Suddenly you started seeing the British flag on a lot of fashion.”

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https://www.vogue.com/article/ginger-spice-union-jack-dress-story

2020-03-19 18:08:43Z
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