Editor’s Note: Look of the Week is a regular series dedicated to the most talked-about outfit of the past seven days, showcasing the good, the bad and the ugly.

CNN
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Madonna was everywhere at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards in New York – and she wasn’t even there.

On the red carpet on Wednesday night, Addison Rae and Anitta wore bridal wear that was reminiscent of the star’s performance of “Like a Virgin” at the very first VMAs almost exactly 40 years ago. But it was Female Artist of the Year nominee Sabrina Carpenter who went a step further and unearthed a vintage dress from the Queen of Pop’s style archives.

The white satin dress with a deep V-neck and sequins, beads and crystals was designed by famous fashion designer Bob Mackie and later custom-made for Madonna. She wore it to the 1991 Oscars, which she attended with Michael Jackson before singing “Sooner or Later,” a song from the film “Dick Tracy.”

And if the strapless look exuded the glamour of old Hollywood, perhaps it was because Madonna herself had worn it as a tribute to Marilyn Monroe.

The dress was an updated version of one Madonna had previously worn for a Vanity Fair cover shoot with photographer Steven Meisel. Mackie, 84, paid tribute to Carpenter and told the story via his official Instagram account on Wednesday evening.

“Maria Schiavo, a well-known fashion stylist, borrowed my pattern of this dress for a Madonna cover shoot for Vanity Fair,” Mackie recalled. “Less than a week later, Madonna herself called and asked for her own version of the dress for the 1991 Academy Awards.”

He also noted that the Queen of Pop later wore the figure-hugging dress in her controversial and hugely popular 1992 coffee table book, Sex. The dress was later worn by Fran Drescher in a 1994 episode of The Nanny.

Mackie designed red carpet looks for some of the biggest stars of the 20th century, including Monroe, Diana Ross and Cher, for whom he designed the iconic, giant headpiece worn at the 1986 Oscars. Dresses from his archive have made a comeback in recent years. Anya Taylor-Joy, Katy Perry, Zendaya and Miley Cyrus have all worn pieces from his archive on red carpets. Kim Kardashian also wore a controversial dress Mackie designed for Marilyn Monroe to the 2022 Met Gala (a dress choice Mackie called a “huge mistake,” telling Entertainment Weekly at the time, “It was designed for (Monroe). No one else should be seen in that dress.”)

Carpenter’s stylist Jared Ellner said on Instagram that he purchased the Madonna dress through LA-based vintage fashion studio Tab Vintage. He completed her look with a diamond necklace and other jewelry from De Beers.

Alexis Novak, founder of Tab Vintage, told Vogue that Ellner and Carpenter approached her with a “really incredible mood board.” She added, “We sent them a set of pieces we had in that direction and we’re so happy with their decision!”

It was a big night for Carpenter, who was nominated for seven awards in her breakthrough year, which saw her top the US Billboard 200 album chart for the first time.

After her stunning red carpet appearance, she performed a medley of her hits “Espresso” (which later won Song of the Year at the VMAs), “Please Please Please” and “Taste.”

By this point, she had already changed into a new costume, trading in her old Mackie dress for a Victoria’s Secret corset bodysuit. But her stage outfit, which took over 180 hours to create and featured 18,500 hand-applied crystal beads, was every bit as dazzling as its shimmering predecessor.

And Carpenter wasn’t done with the Madonna references. Unless, of course, the kiss she shared with a dancer in an alien costume just happened to resemble the star’s embrace with Britney Spears at the 2003 VMAs (though the earlier reference to “Oops!… I Did It Again” during her performance suggested Carpenter may have been playing Spears’ role at the time).