LOOK: Singer Sabrina Carpenter pays tribute to Madonna at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York, wearing the same sparkly white gown Madonna wore to the 1991 Academy Awards. | 📷: Angela Weiss/AFP
Sabrina Carpenter, one of the biggest winners at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards, paid homage to not one but two pop icons who came before her — Britney Spears and Madonna.
The “Espresso” singer sashayed on the VMA red carpet at the UBS Arena in New York, wearing a sparkly silver beaded gown by designer Bob Mackie. She accentuated her look with a diamond necklace from DeBeers that trailed down her chest, her blond curls framing her face, Old Hollywood-style.
The gown was actually what Madonna wore to the 1991 Oscars where she performed that year’s Best Song, “Sooner or Later,” from the movie “Dick Tracy,” starring Warren Beatty in the titular role. Madonna was also part of the cast as “Breathless Mahoney.” “Sooner of Later” also became part of her album called “I’m Breathless,” of which three tracks became part of the movie.
The Mackie gown, while originally designed for Madonna, took inspiration from Marilyn Monroe. The Queen of Pop paired the gown with a matching white fur stole, and came with an equally popular date for the night — the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.
So how did Madonna’s dress come to be Carpenter’s ensemble at the VMAs? Vogue magazine reported that Carpenter and her stylist Jared Ellner were actually looking for something vintage to wear, and came across an archival fashion house and gave them a number of choices based on their moodboard, which they presented.
Onto the evening until her much-awaited debut performance, Carpenter made the audience gasp with delight when she channeled another pop princess, Spears, as she was about to perform her hit singles, “Please Please Please,” “Taste” and, of course, “Espresso.”
Spears, in a 2000 music video for her song “Lucky,” was suspended on a makeshift star.
Sabrina Carpenter performs “Please Please Please” during the MTV Video Music Awards on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Carpenter was a glittering vision in white as she was being lowered from the ceiling on a diamond-shaped swing. She had changed into a silver sequined leotard as she sang her medley, and danced with a moon man and an alien. A bright red kiss mark made a stark contrast on her inner thigh.
The Song of the Year winner also made out with the female alien dancer, passionately kissing her on the lips before pushing her to the side — another reference to Spears and Madonna. The pop icons became controversial when they locked lips at the 2003 VMAs — an event that is now considered an iconic moment in the history of the music award body.
With her stellar debut performance on the VMA stage, Carpenter was dubbed by Billboard as having the most impressive production number, calling her a new “force in pop music.”