Each generation has their own spin on Cinderella that they call their own. In the case of younger millennials and older Gen Zs, there was 2004’s A Cinderella Story, which starred Disney mega-star Hilary Duff as the titular hardworking damsel.
The film, which recently marked its 20th anniversary, retold the classic fairytale through the early-aughts lens, swapping fantasy elements with Y2K tropes, from high school campuses instead of grand castles to lost cellphones for glass slippers.
And much as any other Cinderella iteration, one highlight of the film was the ball gown’s grand reveal. In a now-iconic scene, all eyes were drawn to Hilary’s Sam Montgomery, as she walked down their school’s dance hidden by a mask, garbed in a white, voluminous bridal gown that echoed the fairytale’s sensibilities.
But little do most viewers know, deciding on the gown of the night behind the scenes was as grueling of a decision as it was on-screen. With trial and error, the film’s costume designer Denise Wingate landed on the iconic dress, which was made by none other than Filipina designer Monique Lhuillier.
READ: “A Cinderella Story” Costume Designer Discusses the Iconic Monique Lhuillier Gown Worn by Hilary Duff
In the 2004 romantic comedy, high schooler Sam Montgomery unwittingly finds romance with campus jock Austin Ames (Chad Michael Murray), after they cross paths in an online chat room of Princeton University hopefuls. Despite the pressures of her “evil” stepmother and stepsisters, Sam scores time at the ball–a.k.a. the school’s Halloween dance—with the help of her fairy godmother Rhonda (Regina King), a trusted staff member at her family’s diner.
After a night out looking for the perfect outfit, Rhonda decides to lend Sam the wedding gown she had saved for her big day. In reality, deciding on the dress took several drafts, as the first iterations were flashier and more colorful, but didn’t translate well on screen.
According to costume designer Denise Wingate in an interview with People, the dress was “the biggest issue” in the movie. “I had the Walt Disney illustrated book of Cinderella, and I just remember the layers of pink and blue and iridescent, and I was trying to recreate that for the dress. It was a disaster. It looked awful. It looked like a big mishmash of color, and I kept trying to redo it, but it was awful.”
After camera testing the initial outfits she crafted, the costume designer claimed they looked like “cotton candy” without the semblance of a “classy” aura she hoped to attain. In the week before the scene was scheduled to be filmed, Denise recalled that they were “literally in panic mode” until they found the dress inside a Monique Lhuillier bridal store.
“I knew the white was going to just pop,” she said in the same interview. “Hilary looked really beautiful, and that dress was the right choice. Not the pink and blue thing I was trying to make, and sometimes you don't realize that a piece doesn't work until after you film.”
“The [Monique Lhuillier] dress was perfect. Finding it was perfect, and it fit her [perfectly],” the designer continued. “It was literally the glass slipper.”
The Exact Monique Lhuillier Gown Worn by Hilary Duff in “A Cinderella Story”
Sourced from Monique Lhuillier’s Spring/Summer 2004 bridal collection, the dress by the Cebu-born designer has made it to the highlights of early-aughts rom-com fashion for its modern yet classic take on the Cinderella ball gown. With the quintessential bride in mind, the bodice’s upper half features lace detailing, while its bottom shines with square-shaped beading, falling into a train of white tulle.
The exact dress, however, may now be difficult to acquire since it's now been discontinued, but fans of the movie have opted to recreate the gown for their own proms and weddings. Upon research, one Reddit user who hoped to find the dress claims that it may have cost around $4,800 around that time, or approximately P266,500. A gown tailor-made for a Cinderella moment, indeed!
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