The story behind Lizzy Gardiner's 1995 American Express gold card dress
When Aussie costume designer Lizzy Gardiner stepped onto the Academy Awards red carpet in 1995, she was immediately met with stares. Whether those were of admiration or horror, only time could have told.
Gardiner, who was nominated for an Oscar her costume design in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was decked out head-to-toe in American Express Gold cards in a statement that resounded for years to come.
The dress featured 254 American Express Gold cards that were all authentic – but expired – linked together with gold-toned links and hooks and held with chain shoulder straps.
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Costume designer Lizzy Gardiner was quickly ridiculed for her dress. Getty
If that wasn't scandalous enough, it also had a waist-high slit. She wore it together with a gold organza wrap and gold platform heels.
The dress received immediate criticism, with Cosmpolitan magazine deeming it one of the worst Oscar dresses of all time.
"It's a dress made of American Express Gold cards. We're not sure what else to say about this one, except that the obvious lesson is this: For the love of God, do not design your own dress for the red carpet," they wrote.
Time magazine agreed, saying, "Our problem with the outfit Gardiner wore to accept her award isn't that her dress was made out of a bizarre, nontraditional material. Our problem is that the material of choice was the American Express gold card. It's tacky. And how did she sit down in that thing?"
But many, including Variety, thought the dress was "clever".
It turns out the dress did not come out of thin air – it was in fact one of the potential designs to be used on The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
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She paired it with an organza shawl and platform heels. Reuters via CNN
It was among one of the film's iconic costumes, but American Express had forbidden its use in the film.
So when it came time to choose something to wear to the Oscars, Gardiner decided to work with what she had.
"I'm broke, and I didn't have anything to wear. So I went through my list of past good ideas," she said.
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Gardiner got the last laugh after winning the Oscar. AP
Gardiner got the last laugh, having come away with the Academy Award for Best Costume Design along with Tim Chappel that year.
The dress was auctioned off for charity in March 1999 for $12,650, with the proceeds going to AmfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research.
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