Stella McCartney Optical Illusion Dress: Who Wore It Best?

For celebrities and the fashion savvy, wearing the same dress as another A-lister used to be the ultimate faux pas. 

Yet a recent spate of fashion copy- cats have revealed that all of a sudden, dressing the same as another star is perfectly acceptable. As long as it’s the right dress. 

One example is Stella McCartney’s Illusion dress, which has added killer curves to a slew of celebrities, including Kate Winslet (twice), Penelope Cruz, Liv Tyler and Kelly Hoppen over the past few months. Kate Moss and Yasmin Le Bon even happily attended her Fashion Week party in mini and maxi versions of the same Stella dress.

STELLA MCCARTNEY: OPTICAL ILLUSION DRESS

KATE MOSS.

CAROL VORDERMAN

YASMIN LE BON

Last year, models and actresses (including Liv Tyler, Kate Winslet , Susan Sarandon, Livia Firth and Jane Fonda) went dotty over Stella’s sheer panelled polka dot dress.

Most recently,  McCartney had another hit with her waffle print dress, worn by Kylie, Sienna Miller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Nicole Kidman and Helena Christensen. It seems that wearing the dress of the moment denotes not a lack of originality, but membership of an exclusive club.

The original It dress was, of course, Roland Mouret’s Galaxy — a style so incredibly flattering that women are said to have fought over it in Harvey Nichols when it first went on sale in 2005. 

LIV TYLER

KATE WINSLET

Worn by Scarlett Johansson, Rachel Weisz, Dita Von Teese, Cameron Diaz and Naomi Watts, the Galaxy was so prized celebrities even paid for them — a rare occurrence indeed in the era of the ubiquitous fashion freebie. 

There are other key dresses with legions of fans. Vivienne Westwood’s Lily dress began its life as the full-length wedding dress Sarah Jessica Parker wore in the Sex And The City movie. A shorter version,  the ‘New Lily’, was worn by Helena Bonham Carter, Thandie Newton, Anne Hathaway and Emma Thompson.

ROLAND MOURET: GALAXY

SCARLETTJOHANSSON

RACHEL WEISZ

DITA VON TEESE

So how do certain dresses come to inspire such a feverish following? Naturally, they must flatter — Stella, Vivienne and Roland know the power of a tiny waist (whether achieved through corseting, optical illusion or a combination of the two) and an undulating silhouette.

‘The reason the famous were queuing up to wear the Galaxy is that, quite simply, it made them look incredible,’ says Clare Coulson, fashion features director of Harper’s Bazaar. ‘And then it became almost like a pack mentality and the dress took on a life of its own.’ In other cases, stylists and clever marketing help to create an It dress. 

'Where less-established designers are concerned (as was the case with Roland Mouret), there is often a lot of strategy going on behind the scenes,’ says Brownyn Cosgrave, fashion consultant and author of Made For Each Other: Fashion And The Academy Awards.

‘The designer will cultivate a friendship with the star, perhaps offering customised dresses for them to begin with, in the hope the relationship will pay off.’ (The pay-off being a picture of the starlet looking so stunning in an off-the-peg outfit that everyone, famous or not, wants to own it.) 

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD: LILY

ANNE HATHAWAY

EMMA THOMPSON

SANDRA BULLOCK

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Stella McCartney is friends with many of the red carpet’s most stylish. Celebs such as Kate Moss, Liv Tyler and Gwyneth Paltrow can be relied upon to ‘model’ Stella’s creations at premieres and parties, generating priceless press coverage and public awareness of the brand.

Victoria Beckham (whose 2009 Giral dress was snapped up by Drew Barrymore and Katherine Jenkins), is also well-placed to publicise her dresses, having accumulated almost as many famous friends as Hermes Birkin bags since moving to LA.

‘She’s probably targeted the people she knows,’ says Cosgrave. 

Victoria Beckham’s spokeswoman is a tad touchy on the subject. ‘What’s that got to do with anything?’ she snapped when asked if her client was friends with the women who have showcased her designs. Yet Stella and Victoria’s friends, for all their wealth and celebrity, face the identical problem as the rest of us when they wear the same dress as someone else — the inevitable comparisons. So who do you think wore them best?

STELLA MCCARTNEY: WAFFLE PRINT

GWYNETH PALTROW: 

NICOLE KIDMAN:  Nicole.

HELENA CHRISTENSEN