'He was making this gown when he passed away': Jennifer Lopez confesses she CRIED during first Met Gala fitting... after death of the dress' designer Luigi Massi aged 53
She wowed the red carpet at Monday night's Met Gala.
Yet Jennifer Lopez revealed there was much more to her appearance as she admitted both she and her team 'cried' through her first fitting.
The star found it 'difficult' putting on her custom degradé Swarovski crystal-laden Versace gown, as the designer Luigi Massi passed away last month, at the age of 53 following a heart attack.
Wow! Yet Jennifer Lopez revealed there was much more to her appearance as she admitted both she and her team 'cried' through her first fitting
In a behind-the-scenes video posted on her YouTube channel, Jennifer said: 'We're saddened this year and cried during our first fitting, putting on this gown.
'Knowing Luigi was making this gown when he passed away. It's difficult, but at the same time it's also a celebration of his work.'
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The 49-year-old star's transformation took a total of seven hours and the ensemble took 50 days to complete, with Luigi spending some of that time on the dress. She said: 'Good job everybody. It only took seven hours.'
The Medicine singer dazzled on the red carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2019 Costume Institute Gala in New York City, which had a theme of Camp: Notes on Fashion, and was joined by her fiancé Alex Rodriguez.
Tough times: She admitted to being devastated by the death of Luigi Massi (pictured with the designer and Donatella Versace in 2014)
Emotional: The star found it 'difficult' putting on her custom degradé Swarovski crystal-laden Versace gown, as the designer Luigi Massi passed away last month, at the age of 53
Razzle dazzle 'em like Jennifer Lopez in a dress by Atelier Versace
We're used to seeing Jennifer Lopez in showstopping dresses on the red carpet, but let's just take a moment to appreciate her Atelier Versace gown for this year's Met Gala.
It's covered in Swarovski crystals, and features a daringly deep plunge neckline, a thigh high split and a matching Twenties-inspired headpiece. Add in some jewellery by Harry Winston, and our socks were well and truly knocked off.
It was made just for Jennifer so unfortunately it's not available to buy, but click through to swoon over some more Versace gowns. Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Serena Williams and of course Donatella herself were all wearing Versace designs on the pink carpet so it was a good year for the label.
Or if you fancy recreating the look, we've got some top notch options lined up for you in the edit below.
Luigi was the brains behind the iconic Versace green dress wore to the 2000 Grammy awards, which Jennifer recently admitted she almost did not wear.
She credits the plunging gown as her 'biggest fashion moment' to date, but revealed that the look was created just a few days before she stepped on to the red carpet and only because she had left looking for a gown so late, there was little to choose from.
She said: 'Probably my biggest fashion moment ever was wearing the green Versace jungle print dress...
'I was nominated for a Grammy that night and I was filming 'The Wedding Planner' at the time with Matthew McConaughey and I was out in the middle of nowhere where we did the horseback riding scene and my stylist comes in and she's like 'The Grammys are tomorrow'.
Emotional: And the star's stylist Andrea Lieberman originally discouraged her from wearing the jungle print dress because Donatella Versace had already worn it to the 1999 Met Gala, but Jennifer's longtime friend and manager Benny Medina was 'adamant' that it was the one
'I had no time to do a fitting and she brings like three of four dresses, she was like 'There's nothing out there, you guys waited too long, I've been trying to do a fitting with you for weeks'.
'So on the day of the Grammys I'm getting ready I'm doing hair and make-up. Usually if you come to a fitting of mine, there's, like, tons of dresses. There's always so many choices. But this day, we really had a choice between two dresses.
One was kind of like a white dress, and the other was the Versace jungle-print dress.'
And the star's stylist Andrea Lieberman originally discouraged her from wearing the jungle print dress because Donatella Versace had already worn it to the 1999 Met Gala, but Jennifer's longtime friend and manager Benny Medina was 'adamant' that it was the one.
Silver sensation: In a previous video for her new YouTube series 'Moments of Fashion', she added: 'I put on the green dress and come out and Benny goes, 'That's it. That's it. Don't even talk about it. That's the dress!'
In a previous video for her new YouTube series 'Moments of Fashion', she added: 'I put on the green dress and come out and Benny goes, 'That's it. That's it. Don't even talk about it. That's the dress!'...
And of course my stylist is mortified. She's like, 'No! It's been worn before!' But the guys were so adamant that it was an amazing dress, and we said 'Ok'.
'The only concern was whether or not my boobs were gonna pop out onstage because it was so low-cut, we literally laid double stick down and we stuck the dress to it and went out.
'There was never any danger of that. I was so securely stuck into that thing that there was gonna be no mishaps.'
