Renée Zellweger was wearing vintage dresses on the red carpet well before it became fashionable to do so. It’s a strategy that makes sense for the Bridget Jones star, who, like Jennifer Aniston, generally reaches for the same type of silhouette for big occasions: a fitted, mermaid cut with a strapless neckline (sometimes straight, sometimes sweetheart, occasionally asymmetrical). The actor used to frequent the archives of major couture houses in search of historical treasures long before the Kardashians came up with the same idea.
How can we forget the daffodil yellow Jean Dessès dress dating back to 1959 that she wore to the 2001 Oscars? Back then, the first Bridget Jones film, based on the best-selling novel by Helen Fielding, was being shown in cinemas for the first time. Now, 24 years later, the eagerly awaited fourth instalment has just been released. Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy will hit theatres on Valentine’s Day.
Against this backdrop, it makes sense that for the London premiere of Bridget Jones 4, the leading lady and her stylist Petra Flannery chose a completely on-brand and on-theme look: a vintage strapless gown.
(A fun fact: The pink Balmain couture dress is older than the Bridget Jones franchise; it was paraded in Paris in July 2000, while Bridget Jones did not reach our screens until April 2001.)
As current as it may seem, the fuchsia pink satin dress that Renée Zellweger wore on January 29 to the Bridget Jones premiere in London belongs to the Balmain haute couture collection of 2000. It is therefore a nod to the decade in which the character of Bridget Jones captured the hearts of moviegoers around the world. Now, two decades later, both the character and the fashion of those years have adapted to the new pulse of time.
A version of this story first appeared on Glamour Spain.
