Freeze Frame: How a single photo of Jennifer Lopez in a green dress kickstarted Google Images
It was the dress that helped kickstart a billion-dollar internet empire.
Jennifer Lopez’s daring green Versace dress, worn to the 42nd Grammy Awards in 2000, is a mainstay in the fashion hall of fame for a very good reason.
When the ‘Jenny From the Block’ singer arrived at the annual music awards show at the beginning of the new millennium, photos of her plunging neckline quite literally broke the internet.
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J.Lo’s iconic dress was held together with fashion tape and impeccably showcased the then 31-year-old’s famous curves.
Pictures of the singer and her eye-catching Versace gown were briefly flashed on television channels airing the Grammys red carpet arrivals.
Within moments, Google – which was only two years old at the time – was inundated with search requests for more photos of J.Lo in the dress.
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So much so, the internet giant truly struggled to keep up with the search traffic. This unprecedented demand for a celebrity snap marked the birth of Google Images.
“People wanted more than just text. This first became apparent after the 2000 Grammy Awards, where Jennifer Lopez wore a green dress that, well, caught the world’s attention,” former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in 2015.
“At the time, it was the most popular search query we had ever seen. But we had no sure-fire way of getting users exactly what they wanted: J.Lo wearing that dress. Google Image Search was born.”
At the time, Google could only really offer text links to users on its landing page. But J.Lo’s jungle green dress proved that a picture is worth a thousand words. Or in this case, millions.
In July 2001, Google Images was officially launched to the internet world. It offered 250 million images, a mere drop in the ocean to the billions circulating Google Images today.
The launch didn’t happen overnight, but Google executives have long admitted that J.Lo was the reason behind the lightbulb idea.
“At the time, it was the most popular search query we had ever seen.”
“It’s completely true,” Cathy Edwards, director of engineering and product for Google Images, told GQ in 2019.
“But it is also not the case that this happened and the next day we said, Oh, we should build an image search engine! Everyone there at the time was like, of course we need to build an image search engine, but they weren’t sure how much priority to give it.”
Over 22 years later, people are still searching ‘Jennifer Lopez green dress’ on a daily basis.
Speaking with Vanity Fair about the frenzy her dress caused two decades earlier, J.Lo said the fashion moment almost didn’t happen.
“It was a last-minute thing that caused a sensation that was unexpected,” she said.
When asked by E! News how she felt about the cultural impact of her Versace dress, the popstar joked she had never been properly compensated for it.
“I heard that, who knew?!” she said. Before adding about not getting royalties: I’m a little bit upset about it. I’m sure Versace’s in on it as well.
In 2019, almost 20 years after she first wore the Versace frock, J.Lo delighted fans by wearing it to Versace’s Spring 2020 show at Milan Fashion Week.
The Marry Me star slipped into the green gown and recreated the iconic pop culture moment, effectively breaking the internet once more.
“The second time I wore it and walked out there, it was such an empowering thing,” she told Vanity Fair.
“Twenty years had gone by, and I think for women, knowing you can put on a dress 20 years later – it resonated. It was like, ‘Yes, you know, life is not over at 20!'”
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