Did Dakota Johnson Just Prove She’s A Carrie Bradshaw Fan In This ‘Naked’ Dress?

Dakota Johnson might have convinced us to hang up our Sambas, swapping those triple-stripe sneakers for an equally cool pair of Nike Cortez, but she's also set on influencing our going out wardrobes this summer.

Photographed earlier this week at a screening for Daddio, the actor wore a Saint Laurent mini dress that looked distinctly familiar. Its stealth wealth shade and clingy silhouette, in fact, will have made fans of Carrie Bradshaw, especially those who nothing short of worship her closet in the original SATC, go a little weak at the knees - and rightly so. This wasn't any mini dress. This was an homage, some might argue, to the naked mini dress, made by DKNY.

Cast your mind back to the good old days of Season 1. Carrie was going on her very first date with Mr. Big, an occasion which ordinarily would have produced a wardrobe quandary of epic proportions. Luckily, she'd just done a photoshoot to promote her newspaper column, a very tantalising shot of which would run horizontally on the side of public buses in New York City. As she narrates: 'I had misgivings, which were somewhat mollified when they told me... I could keep the dress.' It's a very sexy dress, with itty-bitty translucent straps that create the illusion that it's being held up by magic.

Anyway, the dress is somewhat overshadowed by the fact that her future husband brings her to what she begins to assume is a 'secret' restaurant, a.k.a somewhere you invite people you don't want to be seen with in public. Ouch. But the dress is undeniably a moment, writ as large in the minds of die-hard fans as the tutu, the corsages and the Manolos. Especially because SJP then wore it on the red carpet when she attended the 1997 VH1 Vogue Fashion Awards in New York.

As a connoisseur of the trend herself - Dakota Johnson wore a peekaboo lace slip that both revealed and concealed earlier this week at the Tribeca Festival - it made sense to reference the original naked dress, especially in NYC.

The question is: do you want to join the club this summer? Follow Johnson's lead by accessorising the look with a pair of barely-there sheer tights that will nonetheless provide a hint of coverage if you're feeling coy. (Psst: COS' playsuit is not only a very convincing take on the naked dress but will have you ready and waiting for any rogue gusts of wind.)

Natalie Hammond is Grazia’s Senior Fashion News Editor. She loves winter, hates summer and can often be found writing about the weather (and what on earth to wear).