The Union Jack dress is an item of clothing worn by singer Geri Halliwell of the

Spice Girls The Spice Girls are an English girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Mel B ("Scary Spice"), Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"), Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"), Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"), and Victoria Beckham ("Posh Spice"). They have sold over 10 ...

at the 1997 Brit Awards. The mini dress featured a

flag of the United Kingdom The national flag of the United Kingdom is the Union Jack, also known as the Union Flag. The design of the Union Jack dates back to the Act of Union 1801, which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland (previously in pe ...

, the

Union Jack The Union Jack or Union Flag is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. The Union Jack was also used as the official flag of several British colonies and dominions before they adopted their own national flags. It is sometimes a ...

, on the front, and a white peace symbol emblazoned on the black-coloured back of the dress. The next day the images of the dress made the front page of various newspapers around the world, and it is now remembered as one of the most iconic pop moments of the 1990s and Brit Awards history. The dress has become synonymous with the Spice Girls, Halliwell and the notions of Girl Power and Cool Britannia. In 2010, ''

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'' reported that the dress came top in an online poll to find the 10 most iconic dresses of the past 50 years, beating other memorable garments such as Marilyn Monroe's white 'Seven Year Itch' halterneck. In 2016, the dress was voted the "Most Inspiring British Fashion Moment" in an online poll conducted by British online retailer Very. At the 2010 Brit Awards, the Spice Girls performance that featured the Union Jack dress won Most Memorable Performance of 30 Years. The dress held the '' Guinness World Record'' for the most expensive piece of popstar clothing sold at an auction.

Background and history

The Spice Girls were scheduled to open the 1997 Brit Awards, where they were also nominated for five awards. The black

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minidress that Halliwell was given to perform in concerned her as she thought it was too "boring". Halliwell decided she wanted to "celebrate being British" and asked her sister, Natalie, to stitch a Union Jack tea towel onto the front of the black dress as a patriotic gesture. To avoid being associated with the National Front, Halliwell also had the CND peace symbol stitched onto the back of the dress. Halliwell wore the finished dress whilst performing a medley of " Wannabe" and "

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" at the Brit Awards on 24 February 1997. The group also won two awards that evening.

Sale

In 1998, a year after Halliwell performed in the dress, she auctioned it off at the London branch of Sotheby's for . The buyer was Peter Morton, on behalf of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino,

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, who displayed the piece of clothing as pop memorabilia. Morton bid via telephone, and beat other bidders such as '' The Sun''. Halliwell herself watched the "frenzied bid", and rapped the gavel after the final bid. The dress was originally valued at £12,000, but the winning bid was £36,200 (£41,320 including 15% commission). Halliwell gave the proceeds of the dress sale to a children's cancer care charity. The

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commented on the sale, saying it "marks the end of Geri's links with the Girl Power image of the past". It held the Guinness World Record for the most expensive piece of popstar clothing dealt at auction. The dress was one of many items of Spice Girls memorabilia sold at the auction, where total sales for charity reached .

2007 remake

For the 2007 Spice Girls reunion tour, named the Return of the Spice Girls, fashion designer Roberto Cavalli designed Halliwell a new Union Jack dress modelled on the original. The new version appeared slightly longer and the flag was made out of rhinestones and Swarovski crystals. Various media outlets reported that Halliwell had attempted to buy back the original dress before their world tour. Halliwell later said that she "liked" the new dress and that she had decided to keep it as memorabilia.

2012 clothing range

In 2012, Halliwell designed a clothing range based upon the dress.

2019 version

For the Spice World – 2019 Tour, Halliwell wore a redesigned floor-length Union Jack dress that featured royal designs on the red stripes and also wore a crown with the dress.

Gallery

File:Halliwell2007UJDress.jpg, Halliwell wearing the Union Jack dress remake in 2007 during the Return of the Spice Girls Tour File:SpiceGirlWembley150619-22 (49000567242) (cropped).jpg, Halliwell wearing a floor length Union Jack dress during the Spice World – 2019 Tour File:UnionJackLasVegas (cropped).png, The original Union Jack dress as displayed at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas File:Manchester Pride 2011 (6085713513).jpg, An attendee at

Manchester Pride Manchester Pride is a Charity (practice), charity that campaigns for LGBT, LGBTQ+ Equality Act 2010, equality across the United Kingdom, predominantly in Greater Manchester. The Charity offers dialogue, training, research and policy analysis, a ...

wearing a replica of the Union Jack dress File:Union Jack dress Brighton Pride 2014.jpg, An attendee at Brighton Pride wearing a replica of the Union Jack dress File:Spicy spice girls (8089395518).jpg, Fans dressed up as the Spice Girls, including a replica of the Union Jack dress

References

External links

* {{Geri Halliwell 1990s fashion British fashion Individual dresses 1997 clothing Dress Geri Halliwell Multicolor dresses Red carpet fashion