A TikToker kept her mom's '90s wedding dress in a closet for decades. Then she spotted a red-carpet photo of Bella Hadid in an identical one.
A TikToker was scrolling through Instagram when she spotted a red-carpet photo of Bella Hadid.
She said the dress was identical to the one her mom wore to get married in the '90s.
The creator's TikTok showing off the vintage Gucci gown has since blown up.
A TikToker realized the wedding dress that has been hanging in her mother's closet for almost 30 years is the same Gucci gown supermodel Bella Hadid wore to the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
"This is the actual dress, it's exactly the same," 20-year-old Florence told viewers in a March 18 TikTok, showing a photo of Hadid on the red carpet followed by a similiar-looking white Gucci dress laying on a bed. "My mom has had this dress for like 20 years. It's been sitting in her closet. She got it in the '90s — I don't even know, like '97, '98 for her wedding."
Florence, who lives in Germany and declined to share her last name due to privacy concerns, told Insider she had seen photos of Hadid in the dress while scrolling Instagram a few months ago and realized her mother owned a seemingly identical dress.
"She didn't have much money at the time," Florence said in her TikTok, "And she just found it somewhere and she was so happy because it was Gucci and she really liked it."
@flochrnit SLAY MUM SLAY (in this video i say that my mum didnt have much money at that time and some people are upset about that. I’m sorry if this was insensitive, i know that its still a privilege to buy a dress for 250$) #guccitomford #bellahadidwhitedress #guccivintage #fyp #viraldress #bellahadid ♬ The Bug Collector - Haley Heynderickx
"She never realized what it's worth," she added. In the comments, Florence estimated that mother paid the equivalent of around $270 for it at the time. More recently, the same gown sold for about $7,000 on the online vintage marketplace 1st Dibs.
For now, the family isn't sure if they'll keep the dress, which has been altered, or sell it. "She would definitely think about it if she got a reasonable offer," Florence told Insider.
The original video has since been viewed more than 950,000 times. Commenters asked Florence en masse to share the wedding pictures and congratulated her for discovering a vintage treasure in her parents' home — "Girl, I'm crying with happiness for you," wrote one viewer.
"Do u want my kidney? I'll take the dress," commented another.
In a March 20 TikTok, Florence posted a follow-up where she shared a series of photos set to "Femme Fatale" by the Velvet Underground, which she said was her parents' wedding song. The photos are cropped to not show faces, but she said they were from her parents' wedding, although they "don't want to have their faces on the internet, which I totally understand."
She told viewers the dress was a hit: "Everyone loved it."
"Wow your mom is so iconic," another commented. Florence responded: "Facts."
@flochrnit Antwort auf @Rhythmic Gymnastics Videos hiii :) femme fatale was their wedding song so i had to put it on this video. Please be nice to each other and to me <3 #bellahadid #tomfordgucci #tomforddress #fyp #weddingphotos ♬ Femme Fatale - The Velvet Underground & Lou Reed
In 2022, when Hadid wore it to the Cannes Film Festival, she worked with the famed — and recently retired — stylist Law Roach. Roach, who once owned a vintage store, is known to source surprising or seminal vintage pieces for clients, like the 40-year-old YSL ensemble he pulled from his personal collection for Zendaya.
The dress both Hadid and Florence's mom wore is simultaneously minimalist and edgy. The white jersey gown has a boatneck, straight skirt, and a keyhole cutout to showcase a gold buckle-like accessory on its accompanying G-string. Or, as Vogue described the brand's highly successful, "super-sexy" fall 1996 ready-to-wear collection whence it came, "the fashion equivalent of a one-night stand at Studio 54."
Florence received some criticism in the comments, in particular from people who pointed out that spending hundreds of dollars on a dress reflects a level of privilege, which she addressed in comment responses saying she never meant to be insensitive, and highlighting that English is her second language.
She said the experience of going viral has been a double-edged sword. "I love how I got the platform to share this story," she told Insider over Instagram direct message. "On the other hand, the internet can be a very scary place and it can get overwhelming very easily."
"I'm still figuring out how to deal with all of it," she told Insider. "I started TikTok out of fun, and as long as it stays that way I'll keep making videos I enjoy."
As far as the dress is concerned, Florence is leaving the possibility that she'll wear it for a special occasion. "Or, we'll sell it — who knows."
Read the original article on Insider