Not just because it’s perfect for dancing to “Thriller.”
Expect to See This Dress Everywhere On Halloween
Generally I try to stay away from prophesying, but if you’ll indulge me for one second, I have a prediction: You’ll be seeing a lot of Jenna Rinks this Halloween. The rainbow-stripe dress the character from 13 Going on 30 is best known for is not quite as popular a costume as, say, Cher Horowitz’s yellow suit, but it’s been enjoying newfound relevance over the last year, thanks in no small part to TikTok.
It all started with Christa B. Allen, who played 13-year-old Jenna in the movie and now recreates scenes from the movie on TikTok—which often go viral. They’re so enjoyable largely because Allen has grown up to look quite a bit like 30-year-old Jenna, played by Jennifer Garner, but also because Allen gets the costumes exactly right, reminding the viewer why they were so obsessed with Jenna in the first place.
Rink, at the start of the movie, is an insecure teen who abandons her best friend in an attempt to fit in with the popular crowd. After an ill-fated game of seven minutes in heaven, she storms into her closet and makes a wish to be—say it with me—30, flirty, and thriving. She gets her wish, and wakes up as a magazine editor at the glossy fashion publication Poise. As proof that she has gotten everything she ever wanted, her best friend is the middle school queen bee (Judy Greer).
A teenager in a 30 year old’s body, Rink navigates her new life with naivete and excitement, as evidenced in one scene where she’s dressing up for her magazine’s big party. Instead of going for a slinky, emerald green corset dress (as Greer’s character does) she goes all out with a rainbow-stripe Versace mini with a cutout under the bust, a butterfly necklace, and loads of pink lip gloss. She then reminds the stuck up fashion crowd what it means to have fun by getting them to do the “Thriller” dance at the party. You see? Everyone benefits from some childlike wonder.
TikTok content
The dress in the movie was Versace, look 5 from the label’s spring 2003 show in a different colorway. Vogue’s Sarah Mower wrote in a review of the collection, “What’s Donatella Versace to do when the whole world seems to be going shorter, brighter and more colorful? Do it shorter, brighter, louder and, of course, better.” Well the pendulum is swinging back in that direction, so it makes sense the dress is enjoying a comeback as well.
This story originally appeared on: Vogue - Author:Sarah Spellings
