Elizabeth Hurley reflects on iconic safety-pin dress

Many celebrities, when asked whether they enjoy dressing for the red carpet, will feign shyness. They’ll tell you that the flashbulb parades are just a part of the job that has to be done, and that being all dolled up for a premiere is something one must tolerate while playing the part of a “serious actor”.

Not Elizabeth Hurley. She embraces the showmanship wholeheartedly. She does the glitter and the bodycon, the plunge neckline and the thigh-high split, whether she’s at Elton John’s peak-Hollywood Oscars party (she’s a patron of the Elton John Aids Foundation) or graciously accepting an unexpected award in a German spa town.

“I’ve always found it much easier to dress for the red carpet than for everyday life,” she admits. “I find black-tie events easy-peasy, but smart-casual surprisingly tricky.”

Now 61, Hurley’s approach to glamorous dressing has, on paper, hardly changed since she arrived in showbusiness in the 1990s, starring in films such as Austin Powers and Mad Dogs and Englishmen, and upstaging her then-partner Hugh Grant when she wore a sliver of a Versace gown held together by gold safety pins at the Four Weddings and a Funeral premiere.

There have been some subtle tweaks along the way. “I engage in the art of eliminating what I don’t like and highlighting what I do,” she says of her approach to finding the right gown for her figure. “Fit always comes first. You can wear the most beautiful dress in the world, but if it doesn’t fit properly, you’ll never feel your best. I’m not bad at altering things myself, but I also have a good alterationist and I’m forever having clothes nipped and tucked.”

Her safety-pin dress of 1994 is still regarded as seminal, effectively unclasping a trend for “naked dressing” that has since been reworked time and again by stars such as Kim Kardashian and Beyoncé. Hurley is their pin-up; she’s still cited as a reference on designer mood boards some 30 years later.

“It’s very flattering because, at the time, I certainly wasn’t thinking about creating a fashion moment; I just wore what I could get my hands on,” she insists.

The dress was a last-minute borrow, handed over by a publicist in a white plastic bag. And it wasn’t the only outfit she wore in the 1990s to have a major impact, resulting in her being featured on front pages around the world.

“I remember in the ’90s wearing a lace Emanuel Ungaro dress that was completely see-through, with large knickers underneath,” she says. “It was about 30 years ahead of its time and I think it was viewed back then as eye-poppingly risqué. But by today’s standards, it would be very tame. Ditto my Versace safety-pin dress; it was considered extremely shocking and special 30 years ago; I doubt anyone would turn a hair if it were debuted today.”

Hurley didn’t use the services of a professional stylist back then, but has collaborated with several in the years since. “Through the ’90s and 2000s, I was sent all my red-carpet looks directly from brands such as Versace, Gucci and Fendi, with whom I still have wonderful relationships,” she explains.

Freddie Leiba sourced some of her favourite looks for films, while another New York-based stylist, Ann Caruso, still puts together the “vast pink wardrobes” she wears for all of her breast cancer fundraising activities. She adds, “Mike Adler, who I work with in the UK, also pulls great looks for me, including the magnificent Celia Kritharioti dress I wore to the Vanity Fair Oscars party last year.”

Her village is well versed in what she likes to wear at those events. But what about for the “everyday”?

“Valentino, who sadly passed away earlier this year, used to always tell me that everything had to look ‘easy’,” she says. “Never looking like you tried too hard. Mix new with old. Mix Zara with Hermès. The object was to not look like a ‘lady who lunched’.”

Her friend Joan Collins, 93, is another glamorous guiding influence. “I call her ‘mommy dearest’,” says Hurley. “Joan is exactly the same in private as she is in public – incredibly energetic, extremely funny, and gorgeously stylish.”

These teachings have led Hurley to shop in a mix of places, including dresses from Versace, Zhivago and Roberto Cavalli and resort wear from Charo Ruiz Ibiza and her own brand, Elizabeth Hurley Beach.

Two recent advertising campaigns for Canadian label Joseph Ribkoff have helped her address a self-acknowledged missing link: polished daywear. “The clothes are elegant, flattering and incredibly easy to wear,” she says. “They make you feel put together without looking as though you’ve tried too hard.

“Everything was also very comfortable, which is my be-all and end-all. I can’t abide anything that digs in anywhere.”

This is another new diktat from a woman who has previously admitted to tolerating boning so sharp it made her bleed.

Hurley’s wardrobe at her home, a Georgian mansion in Herefordshire, UK, is “messy”, she admits, “[but] I know where everything is”. Splitting her time between there and Nashville, the home of her partner of two years, country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, might lead to the illusion that she’s living out of a suitcase.

“Most people think my closet looks like I’ve been burgled,” she jokes. “I’m a perfect candidate for a hoarding show as I loathe throwing anything out. I’ve kept pretty much everything I’ve ever worn, except my Versace safety-pin dress, which is in the Metropolitan Museum [of Art, in New York].

“I have way too much and it’s overflowing. I often do a swoop and put things in boxes, but frequently burrow through them and out it all comes again. I exhaust myself with my messiness.”

To see Hurley in the Herefordshire countryside is perhaps the closest one could get to seeing her truly “off-duty”. She loves being outdoors – anyone who follows her on Instagram will have seen her as a particularly girly farmer, lambing in pigtails and pink lip gloss.

“I would hardly describe it as a style,” she says, “as I’m usually covered in mud, with twigs sticking out of my hair. I spend my entire time gardening and am covered in cuts and bruises. Ancient jeans, thick socks and wellingtons are the order of most days.”

This activity, she says, is also the key to her confidence. “I never go to the gym. I much prefer being active in ways I enjoy – walking, gardening and just keeping busy. For me, it’s less about how I look and more about feeling healthy and energetic.”

That, in turn, makes her feel better in those dresses. “When you feel good, you naturally carry yourself with more confidence, and I think that’s reflected in how you dress.”

Revisit old favourites Over lockdown, I did a biblical sorting session and have since reworn some of my favourite pieces – like a Versace [dress] I first wore to the 1997 Met Gala to a big party in India in March.

Take care of treasures I feel nostalgic towards some of my couture evening dresses; they are exquisite and still in perfect condition.

Be bold at events Colour certainly comes into it; for events I usually like a bright colour or white.

Stand tall Posture is everything. I infuriate my friends by poking them in the shoulders and telling them to sit up straight.

Don’t buy if you don’t have to I borrow diamonds for big events, but they go back the next day. I’d rather spend my money on trees for my house in Herefordshire.

Borrow from the boys I steal from my son – trackies and hoodies, mostly. I think it really annoys him.

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