- Jennifer Lopez' green outfit became one of the most talked-about celebrity fashion moments ever, with millions of people searching online to see photos of it.
- At the time, Google Search mainly displayed text results and did not have an image search feature.
- Former Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt confirmed that Jennifer Lopez's famous green Versace dress played a major role in the creation of Google Images in 2001.
Jennifer Lopez believes Google "owes her a cheque" because her iconic green Versace dress helped inspire the creation of Google Images.
Speaking on the SubwayTakes Uncut podcast on June 5, the 56-year-old said: "I feel like they owe me a check. They should have done that just for karma... They're probably trillionaires or whatever."
The actor-singer was referring to the green tropical-print Versace gown she wore at the 2000 Grammy Awards. The outfit became one of the most talked-about celebrity fashion moments ever, with millions of people searching online to see photos of it.
At the time, Google Search mainly displayed text results and did not have an image search feature.
Former Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt confirmed that Lopez's famous green Versace dress played a major role in the creation of Google Images in 2001.
In a 2015 blog post, he wrote that photos of Lopez's dress became "the most popular search query we had ever seen." At the time, Google Search could only show text results, so the huge demand for images led the company to build Google Images.
"So our co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin – like all other successful inventors – kept iterating. They started with images. After all, people wanted more than just text. This first became apparent after the 2000 Grammy Awards, where Jennifer Lopez wore a green dress that, well, caught the world's attention," he wrote in the blog.
"At the time, it was the most popular search query we had ever seen. But we had no surefire way of getting users exactly what they wanted: JLo wearing that dress. Google Image Search was born," he added.
The green dress first appeared in Versace's Fall 1999 collection and Spring/Summer 2000 fashion show. Since then, several celebrities, including Geri Halliwell-Horner, Donatella Versace, and Jennifer Lopez herself, have worn the same dress or similar versions of it. Recently, actor Mike Abdalla wore a version of the outfit in the Off Campus series.
Lopez said the dress has become popular again because of Off Campus and her hit song On the Floor. She joked that it is "crazy" that a dress she wore more than 25 years ago is still making headlines.
"Oh, this is (expletive) crazy. So, yes, I wore the Versace dress. Because people searched for it, they invented Google Images," she added.