In mid-January 2004, I went to the Los Angeles premiere of Along Came Polly. There was a little salon in the hotel so I made an appointment with a makeup artist who decided to give me a tan, L.A.-worthy look, even though I didn’t ask for one. I wound up more orange than tan. This picture was taken after I managed to remove some of the bronzer from my face. I actually added blush to my neck and arms to try to make the difference between the color of my face and the rest of me less shocking.
Since then, if I have my makeup done by someone I don’t know, I make sure to tell him/her that I wish to maintain my normal pallor.
I still have the purple Versace dress I wore that night. Here it is at a party in 2011.
Click for original post, which includes a full-length photo of the dress from 2004.
If this dress looks familiar, that might be because a month after I wore it, actress Kristen Johnston had it on when her jaded party-girl character Lexi declared, “God, I’m so bored I could die!” and fell out a window in the Sex and the City episode “Splat!” Click the screen cap below to watch the scene.
Click me, bitch!
After rewatching that clip, I’m amazed I kept the dress. The character and scene are so fantastically awful!
New York Magazine has been doing an excellent series of mini oral histories focusing on entertainment. Last month, Nisha Gopalan did one on Lexi and “Splat!” In it, Johnston recalls:
“I wasn’t looking great. I was bloated and not fit. I just had been doing theater and eating late burgers and drinking a lot. I thought everyone was going to make fun of me. And I had to do it in that Versace fucking dress!”
Click here to read the rest of the oral history. I apologize in advance if you then feel compelled to read the rest of the oral histories. They’re as addictive as the cocaine Lexi was snorting on SATC. The one for Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” is my favorite.
OMG I was only talking about that scene the other day!!
The dress looks better on you and the LA make over is well so LA xx
She did the makeup with me facing away from the mirror too, so I had no opportunity to head her off at the pass!LOL.
Luffed that scene and thought you look good with a faux tan!
Oral histories are my favorite. Love the triptych too!
I love her and I loved that scene!
You look like a teenager in that first pic!
And super sexy in the second!
It was a great episode, for sure.
eeek! I totally remember that scene from SATC so perfectly. You wear it much better of course!!
I was so appalled when I saw the dress on her because that character was just the worst!
That was definitely not a “feel-good” episode. I love the dress. But you definitely look better in it.
How many purple Versace pieces (or any pieces) do you own? I know you’ve got that great suit, too.
You know, I tried to find the orange in the photo of you after the LA makeup run-in, but either my screen is not calibrated correctly, or I’ve lived here too long and am de-sensitized to orange people, because to me, you look as beautiful as ever. I always marvel at how photogenic you are.
You’re very sweet — and also possibly desensitized to the orange!
Poor Kristen Johnston… they crammed her into a too small dress, she’s 6′ tall, then her character is so loud, so inappropriate in that party — it’s fabulously cringe-worthy, even before she goes out the window!