Throwback To Britney Spears Iconic Red Latex Jumpsuit

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When you hear the name Britney Spears, images of a red jumpsuit made out of latex when she wowed viewers may be the first to pop into your head. With this in mind, it’s been twenty years now since the female pop star who dominated the 2000s released her Oops!….I Did It Again music video for the world to see.

The designer behind that iconic jumpsuit was Estee Stanley. Stanley also was the designer behind other musical artists and their on-screen or on-stage costumes of the time, including NSYNC, Sugar Ray, and Smash Mouth.

On the Britney Spears video, Stanley worked hand-in-hand with Spears to carefully design and craft the idea behind the space-age theme that is featured on the video. The two were looking to show off a monochromatic attire without losing the sex appeal that Spears brought to the camera.

The two quickly and easily came up with the idea to dress the backup dancers in silver accented with a specially designed astronaut costume for the spotlight dancer acting as Britney’s space boyfriend. What Britney would wear was a little more complicated to decide on. Originally, designs made of all white or all black were on the table, but in the end the red jumpsuit won out.

As a last-minute decision, the two decided to ask costume designer Michael Bush. He was working on all of the costume designs for Britney’s tours. Stanley and Spears asked him to design something special for the video. In just one night’s vision, he came up with the red latex look.

Britney’s reaction to the red jumpsuit was immediate excitement and acceptance. Designer Stanley, on the other hand, was a bit reserved and skeptical about using latex since the fabric is really tight and creates excessive perspiration. They, however, went forward with the costume. After one, long and hard day of dancing in front of the lights and cameras, Spears dripped with sweat but kept on going to dance through it all and capture an unforgettable moment on camera.

Before the final production of the video, the all-silver backup dancer costumes were changed to add a hint of red accents around the waist, across the shoulders, and as a red mid-driff top for one female dancer in the background. Though, Britney all in red appeared almost as if a black and white photo had been colorized with spot-on highlights with her as the focal point.

Today, Stanley still admits that working with Spears on the red latex jumpsuit design was one of her most loved projects. She especially enjoyed Britney’s creativity that she brought to the process.

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