Great Outfits in Fashion History: Penélope Cruz in an Effortless Slip Dress

An early 2000s party look worth recreating.

Penélope Cruz at the Cannes Film Festival in 2000.
Photo: J. Vespa/WireImage

There are perfectly good celebrity style moments, and then there are the looks that really stick with you, the ones you try desperately to recreate at home. In ‘Great Outfits in Fashion History,’ Fashionista editors are revisiting their all-time favorite lewks.

Penélope Cruz has the kind of appeal the money can’t buy. With perhaps the greatest second-day hair looks of all time, she’s always possessed this effortless, just rolled-out-of-bed aesthetic, making her both a beauty and a fashion icon.

Beige and buttery hues dictated most of her looks in the late ’90s and early 2000s, yet her colorless Cannes wardrobe is more memorable than other festival attendees of yesteryear, who opted for more in-your-face shades. For one 2000 party on the Croisette, Cruz wore a simple beige slip dress with subtle floral detailing. The lingerie-inspired gown is something that would fly off the shelves at a secondhand retailer, given the current casual sexy moment that we’re living in. Even back then, though, it had an air of sultry minimalism.

Cruz didn’t necessarily complete the look, which made it that much more brilliant. She could’ve applied a prominent lip color, jazzed up her wrist with a diamond bangle or even thrown her essentials into a clutch instead of carrying them in her hand. But in her dismissal of these red carpet-making elements, Cruz humanized Hollywood glamour.

If I make it to a Cannes Film Festival party next May, I will be copying this entire look — otherwise, I’ll be using it to inform my going-out dressing choices for fall. Add some sexy and easy slip dresses to your closet via the gallery below.