Geri Halliwell tells story behind iconic Spice Girls Union Jack dress
Geri Halliwell has revealed the story behind how she made the now-synonymous Union Jack Spice Girls dress at the 1997 BRIT Awards.
Speaking on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday this week, the singer, author and actress opened up about her time in the band, including the time she wore her iconic Union Jack dress and how it came about.
“I always like making things [and] they gave us different clothes from different [eras],” she explained. “That was a Gucci dress; it was like a Marilyn Monroe ’50s-shape black swimming costume.”
She continued: “Like Americans – you always celebrate your country, I was thinking, ‘It’s the BRITs, I should put a flag on it.’ And the only flag I found was a tea towel, so I cut out a tea towel and sewed it on the Gucci dress.”
She also noted that her boots were painted with car spray, as her father was a mechanic
Halliwell also spoke about how she missed the first audition for Spice Girls, with the group previously called Touch before Halliwell came up with the name Spice.
“It wasn’t really the Spice Girls at that moment, just some people auditioning for a girl band, but I did miss it,” she explained. “I was up a mountain and I had burnt my face… Somehow I kept the advert on my mirror and – a few months later – I thought, ‘Hmmm, I wonder if that’s still going.’ So, I ran them up and they said come on.”
Halliwell was on the show to promote her new children’s fiction novel Rosie Frost & The Falcon Queen, which was released on Tuesday.
Spice Girls briefly reunited last year at Halliwell’s 50th birthday party, while 2022 also marked the 25th anniversary of their second album ‘Spice World’ and the record-setting musical comedy feature film of the same name.
The group also embarked on a stadium tour in 2019 without Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice), explaining that “with everything else that I’ve got going on with my fashion, and my beauty line, four children, I couldn’t commit to [the shows].”
It was rumoured that the group would perform in the prestigious Legends slot at next year’s Glastonbury festival. Fellow Spice Girl Mel B (Scary Spice) alluded to the band would be performing, but Mel C (Sporty Spice) quashed the rumours, saying that Glasto conflicted with some of their schedules.
Mel B also confirmed that a Spice Girls “announcement” is on the way, saying they’re “just finishing off perfecting what we’re going to be doing together, all five of us.”
In March, Spice Girls released an alternative never-seen-before music video, celebrating the 25th anniversary of their ’90s smash hit ‘Stop’.
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