There are dresses that enter history, and there are dresses that get their own Wikipedia page. The white creation Angelina Jolie wore to the 2004 Oscars belongs to the second category - and not by chance.

Jolie was not nominated that evening; she was presenting the award for best production design. But it was precisely her appearance that stayed in memory. The actress made a dramatic turn from the gothic style of the nineties toward elegant minimalism - a white creation by designer Marc Bouwer, with a deep V-neckline, a cinched waist with a draped detail and a lower part that flowed down.

The design evoked another icon - Marilyn Monroe in „The Seven Year Itch" from 1955. And the moment carried a hidden symbolism too: the appearance came only a few weeks after filming began on „Mr & Mrs Smith", the film on whose set Jolie would meet Brad Pitt. The bridal tone of the dress, in retrospect, looks almost like an announcement.

The detail was rounded off by the sparkle: diamonds by H. Stern, including the spectacular „Athena" necklace of over 85 carats, worth several million dollars. Two decades later, the same Bouwer design was worn by Sydney Sweeney at the 2024 post-Oscars party - proof that real minimalism does not age.

And that is the lesson the fashion industry is reluctant to tell: you don't need a new dress every season. Sometimes one clean line outlives twenty trends.