The year was 2000 and the internet across the world was just taking more than baby steps when Jennifer Lopez went to the Grammy awards wearing a Versace dress. Just saying Versace dress is enough because you would remember the dress. Such was the impact of the dress that it became the most searched query on Google at that time. And now the singer and actress, popularly known as J-Lo, wore a similar dress recently and search giant Google has shared how that dress actually changed fashion and Google’s history.
In a blog post made by Vincento Riiii, country marketing director, Google Italy, the company has recounted the story of thatdress. “Back in 2000, search results were still just a list of blue links. When the Search team realized they weren’t able to directly surface the results that people wanted—a picture of Jennifer in the dress—they were inspired to create Google Images.” So yes, if J-Lo had never worn that dress perhaps Google Images would have not been what it was.
Riiii further says in the blog post that no one could actually imagine the impact of the dress. He said in the blog post, “No one predicted that the jungle print dress would have the technological impact that it did—not even J.Lo herself.” However, it did end up having a massive impact on how people use the internet. “Eighteen years later, Google Images is used by millions of people every day, not just to look for celebrity style or fashion photos, but to find ideas for redesigning a living room, creating a meal, or embarking on a DIY project,” noted Riii in the blog post.
Meanwhile, Google also showed off the “new, revamped green dress in the print, designed by Donatella Versace and modeled by J.Lo.” Google also used its Tilt Brush to help decorate the runway space with digital artwork inspired by the new print.