>> It has already been well-reported that Sarah Jessica Parker wore the same Nina Ricci dress to the New York Sex and the City premiere last week as Vogue contributing editor and socialite Lauren Santo Domingo wore to the Costume Insitute Gala on May 5. 

More interesting, however, is the story behing the mix-up — as Cathy Horyn reports, both Nina Ricci designer Olivier Theyskens and Mario Grauso, the president of the fashion division at Puig, which owns Nina Ricci, assured SJP that the gown had not been worn in anything but magazine shoots.  When she came to find out that wasn't the case, she felt deceived:

In the big picture, this is not important, but there is a relationship between the entertainment industry and fashion . . . my affection for the dress hasn’t changed, but what they did was so short-sighted. It’s just unethical and disappointing that they would allow the dress to be worn again.

Parker says she mentioned to Olivier during the fitting that she was surprised the dress hadn't already been worn:

He didn’t say, ‘Well, actually I just escorted Lauren down the red carpet at the Met.’  I just wish it had been handled differently and they had been straight about it.

When Cathy asked Grauso for a response, he of course said, "I’m upset that she’s upset.”  But then he went on to fumble for excuses — he clearly knew that Lauren had worn the dress to an event before, because he said he had no reason to mention Santo Domingo:

'Is Lauren a celebrity?  It depends on how you look at it.' He said he and Theyskens mainly thought of her as a friend. He then asked—somewhat incredulously, I thought—“Does everybody look at Style.com?'

A bad move on Nina Ricci's part, especially when they were just becoming red carpet gold.  I wonder what Anna Wintour, who so strongly favors Olivier, thinks about it?

*images: source