Helena Christensen’s Archival Red Carpet Reference? Herself, Of Course

You know you’re a true icon when you can reference yourself. On a night when so many starlets were wearing archive gowns worn by others before, supermodel Helena Christensen showed up to the Vanity Fair Oscars party in a gown she had actually debuted on the runway 30 years before.

Christensen slipped into an off-the-shoulder number designed by John Galliano for his eponymous label’s spring 1996 runway show. Designed in supple black satin, the gown featured a plunging neckline (accented by sheer panels at the waist) followed by a dramatic train detail. The cut of the dress was fairly simple—a more va-va-voom twist on the traditional slip dress—only to be enhanced by a swan-like, black and white appliqué placed along the bust and shoulder. The supermodel let the power of her archival pull shine here, opting for sun-kissed skin, a light pink lip, and Hollywood waves.

After doing her thing on the step and repeat, the 55-year-old supermodel later shared some insight into how her Galliano rewear came to be. “So excited I was able to get back into one of my favorite dresses I’ve worn on the runway, 1996 (corset not entirely closed up but that’ll be my little secret),” she wrote on Instagram.

For this specific collection, titled Lécole de Danse or dancing school, Galliano looked to intersection of fashion and ballet. Models like Shalom Harlow and Kate Moss glided down the runway in sculptural tutus, backdropped by “choir music and a sermon being preached in the background,” per The New York Times.

As was commonplace back then, Christensen sauntered about the runway, hitting statuesque poses in between her signature catwalk strut. The dress looked as ethereal back then as it does now, with the main difference coming from Christensen’s leafy ginger updo.

Nowadays, it seems that A-list stars value being the “first” to wear specific runway looks (fittingly, Kendall Jenner also pulled out a Galliano confection on Sunday, though from his recent collection for Maison Margiela) as much as they do in scouring the archives for a nostalgic red carpet moment. The Oscars after party circuit was brimming with such outfits, from Jennifer Lawrence in, fittingly, Galliano-era Givenchy and Sydney Sweeney who sported Angelina Jolie’s 2004 Oscars gown. Christensen might have just topped them all with the ultimate reference: herself.