Salma Hayek Said "No One" Would Dress Her for Her First Red Carpet in 1996

Salma Hayek is one of the most stylish actresses in Hollywood today, and she got there all by herself. Some of her best fashion moments were devised without a team or a glamorous gown lent from a luxury fashion house, because, according to Hayek "no one" would dress her at the beginning of her career. 

Reflecting on the outfit she wore to the 1996 premiere of her film Birdcage (her first major red carpet event) during a recent interview with W Magazine, Salma revealed that she wore a men's suit, and not by choice. 

“I didn't have any connections,” Hayek explained. “The only connection I had was to somebody I knew at Hugo Boss, so I wore a man’s suit because no one else gave me anything to wear.” The suit in question was charcoal gray and featured a boxy jacket and wide-leg pants, and was styled with a black crewneck sweater underneath. 

Hayek previously told a similar story while speaking with Vogue India two years ago. "I'm Mexican. I'm also very short, which doesn't help with the weight and doesn't help with the design," she said, adding that she wore men's suits "for a while."

“Another time, I had on a very simple black dress and I knew all the other girls were going to have fabulous dresses, beautiful jewelry,” she continued. “And can I tell you something? Instead of giving me a complex and saying that I don't have the best dress or they don't know who I am...I was like, I am fabulous. I painted some butterfly tattoos on myself and I felt happy about myself."

Salma has come a long way since sporting menswear on the red carpet. Today she's a bonafide bombshell, wearing gowns by top designers like Gucci, Versace, and Saint Laurent that are covered in sequins and lace, and accessorized with diamonds. This year at the Cannes Film Festival, the Black Mirror star wore a plunging sparkly black gown paired with Boucheron jewels, and before that, she stunned at the 2023 Golden Globes in a custom crystal-embroidered Gucci dress.

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