Elizabeth Banks Rewears Her Vanity Fair Oscars Party Dress From 2004

Elizabeth Banks wearing the same red dress in 2004 and 2020.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 10 February 2020

Elizabeth Banks hasn't aged a single day since 2004. Proof: These photos of the Pitch Perfect star in a fire-red dress at the Vanity Fair Oscars party in 2004, and then in the same dress at the same party in 2020. Is it...is it possible she looks even better 16 years later? What is this sorcery?

Here's Banks at the Vanity Fair party in 2004 in her beloved Badgley Mischka dress and red, sparkly clutch:

Elizabeth Banks shows off the back of her red dress.

And here she is in 2020, looking essentially exactly the same (the only thing that's changed, in fact, is the back of her dress, which has been adapted slightly):

Elizabeth Banks wears a red dress to the Vanity Fair Oscars after-party.

Elizabeth Banks shows off the back of her red dress at the Vanity Fair Oscars after-party.

Aside from the back of the dress, the only real change is in Banks' jewelry: In 2004, she wore chandelier earrings and a thick silver bracelet. In the present-day, if time has passed at all, which I'm not completely convinced of given the evidence above, Banks is wearing a long diamond-and-pearl necklace.

A post shared by Elizabeth Banks (@elizabethbanks)
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"It’s gorgeous and it fits…so why not wear it again?!" Banks shared wrote on Instagram about the look. "Proud to wear my @badgleymischka dress that I first wore to @vanityfair #oscars party in 2004, re-imagined with @wendiandnicole, to bring global awareness to the importance of sustainability in fashion and consumerism as it relates to climate change, production & consumption, ocean pollution, labor & women. And thrilled to partner again with @radvocacy in support of @nsifashion2030, which helps brands draw down their carbon use and achieve measurable sustainability targets."

Smash Mouth was wrong, people. The years start coming, but they do stop coming, at least according to Elizabeth Banks, ageless icon.

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Jenny is the Digital Director at Marie Claire. A graduate of Leeds University, and a native of London, she moved to New York in 2012 to attend the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She was the first intern at Bustle when it launched in 2013, and spent five years building out its news and politics department. In 2018 she joined Marie Claire, where she held the roles of Deputy Digital Editor and Director of Content Strategy before becoming Digital Director. Working closely with Marie Claire's exceptional editorial, audience, commercial, and e-commerce teams, Jenny oversees the brand's digital arm, with an emphasis on driving readership. When she isn't editing or knee-deep in Google Analytics, you can find Jenny writing about television, celebrities, her lifelong hate of umbrellas, or (most likely) her dog, Captain. In her spare time, she also writes fiction: her first novel, the thriller EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD, was published with Minotaur Books (UK) and Little, Brown (US) in February 2024 and became a USA Today bestseller. She has also written extensively about developmental coordination disorder, or dyspraxia , which she was diagnosed with when she was nine. She is currently working on her second novel.