Blake Lively channeled “ultimate queen” Britney Spears by donning the exact same Versace dress the pop star sported in 2002.
The actress, 36, dazzled at the New York City premiere of her movie “It Ends With Us” on Tuesday, making sure to pay homage to Spears, 42.
“It is Britney’s actual dress,” Lively gushed to People on the red carpet ahead of the debut of the romance-drama.
“It should be in the Smithsonian [Institution] or the Met[ropolitan Museum of Art], but it’s on me.”
The ethereal garment in question is a multicolored, slip-inspired gown covered in sparkles and marked by an asymmetrical neckline, which Spears wore to Versace’s 2002-2003 ready-to-wear fall/winter runway show during Milan Fashion Week.
In a conversation with Extra TV on the same red carpet, Lively explained that the dress “meant so much to [her] because of what [Spears] meant to [her].”
“She was just somebody who represented love and beauty and youth and hard work and determination and strength. And she was in touch with her sexuality and her delicacy, and she just sort of represented it all,” the “Gossip Girl” star said, styling her long, blond locks in the same bouncy waves that the singer did.
“Her telling her own story the way that she did and the way she’s about to with her biopic … Britney has just meant so much to me forever. I’m a forever Britney stan.”
Lively shared that she jumped at the opportunity when the iconic gown became “available.”
“I was like, ‘Yes! I need it,’” she recalled, adding that she was “saving it for this” very occasion.
Lively — who portrays a florist named Lily Bloom in the Justin Baldoni-directed film, out in theaters Friday — also praised Spears on her Instagram.
Taking to her Story to share a photo of the songstress flashing a huge grin while rocking the same dress more than 20 years ago, the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” star wrote, “Todays mood. The ultimate queen who made us all want to sparkle and write and share our stories.”
Speaking to the Grammy winner directly, Lively penned, “Britney, us millennials all have a story of a moment, or of years that you made us want to shine and inspire awe, with strength, and joy and immensely hard work.”
The mother of four — who was joined at the premiere by her husband, Ryan Reynolds — went on to thank Spears for her “example” and her “contribution to women telling their stories.”
