‘Uptown Girls’ 20

Aug 16, 2023

By Christian Allaire

In Boaz Yakin’s Uptown Girls, released 20 years ago today, Molly Gunn (Brittany Murphy) is a rock-heiress–slash–socialite with an exceptional wardrobe to match. The opening scene is one of the great fashion montages in film. Molly gets ready for her birthday party in her sprawling uptown apartment, emerging wearing a whimsical Blumarine dress adorned with beads and floral embroidery. While Molly eventually goes broke and is forced to take a job as a nanny—to the adorable Dakota Fanning, no less!—her cutesy Y2K style, costume designed by Sarah Edwards, persists throughout the film. But it’s that opening dress that still has people talking two decades later.

The frock, from Blumarine’s spring 2002 collection, exemplifies all of the qualities of a hit 2000s dress: It’s got shining beads, big appliqués, and a sexy asymmetrical hemline. Given Y2K style has been all the rage in fashion recently, it only makes sense that fans of the film are still completely obsessed with it today. “I will never truly be happy until I own this dress from Uptown Girls,” wrote one Twitter user of the design. “[Owning] it will forever be one of my dreams,” wrote another. Similar to the iconic dresses in 13 Going on 30 or How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, it’s a chic costume that’s become just as famous as the film itself.

The actual dress worn by Murphy in the film was sold at auction back in 2012. There were only nine bids in the sale (which was hosted on Julien’s Auctions), and a lucky bidder won the dress for a cool $1,920 (a steal, considering how famous it is now). While only a handful of the exact Blumarine dresses remain out in the world, they continue to pop up from time to time. One recently sold on Luxhave for a pricier $8,500; a TikTok creator who owns one also claims she thrifted it from the Melrose Trading Post (lucky her).

Another owner of the prized frock today? Socialite Ivy Getty, who was spotted wearing the coveted style to the Vogue World fashion show just last year. “I must have been searching for the dress for at least a decade,” Getty, who is a big fan of the film, tells Vogue of acquiring it. “I finally got notified from a friend that it was selling online, and I bought it immediately. It is easily my favorite piece in my closet. It is not only visually beautiful, but Molly gave life to the dress that will never be forgotten.”

A hefty price tag hasn’t stopped other fans from getting their hands on the dress, however. Many are so obsessed with the dress that they’re even DIYing it themselves at home. One TikTok creator, for instance, impressively re-created it by customizing a slip dress. If they can’t DIY it, they’re finding similar styles. This TikTok creator reworked a vintage slip dress with more sequins and beads to make it feel more like the Bluemarine style. Another creator also found an extremely similar style at an estate style.

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It’s not the only Uptown Girls dress that continues to live on, either. This summer Addison Rae was spotted stepping out in the exact silk slip dress by Victoria’s Secret that Murphy sports in the film. The Moschino sundress that Molly wears, adorned with cartoony figures, has also been a coveted item by fans. But 20 years later, it’s still that dress—one of the best in movie history.