Google built Image Search because of one Versace dress
Versace's jungle print dress went down the Milan runway for spring summer 2000, and Donatella Versace (@donatella_versace) wore it to the Met Gala in December 1999. Then Jennifer Lopez wore it to the Grammy Awards on February 23, 2000, and it became the most popular search query Google had seen. Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive from 2001, has said that is why the company built image search. Thank goodness somebody wanted a better look at a dress.
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The post, as it ran
01GOOGLE IMAGES EXISTS BECAUSE OF ONE VERSACE DRESS. JENNIFER LOPEZ WORE IT TO THE GRAMMYS IN 2000.
02IT WAS THE MOST POPULAR SEARCH GOOGLE HAD EVER SEEN, AND ALL GOOGLE COULD GIVE PEOPLE WAS A PAGE OF BLUE TEXT LINKS.
03THAT IS THE ACCOUNT OF ERIC SCHMIDT, WHO RAN GOOGLE AT THE TIME. PEOPLE WANTED THE PICTURE. SO GOOGLE BUILT A SEARCH FOR PICTURES.
04GOOGLE IMAGES LAUNCHED IN JULY 2001, SEVENTEEN MONTHS AFTER THE RED CARPET.
05THE DRESS IS GREEN SILK CHIFFON IN A JUNGLE LEAF PRINT, CUT VERY LOW AT THE FRONT. DONATELLA VERSACE DESIGNED IT IN MILAN.
06LOPEZ WAS NOT THE FIRST TO WEAR IT IN PUBLIC. DONATELLA WORE IT, AND SO DID GERI HALLIWELL OF THE SPICE GIRLS, WEEKS EARLIER.
07IN SEPTEMBER 2019 LOPEZ WALKED THE VERSACE RUNWAY IN MILAN IN A NEW VERSION OF IT. GOOGLE HELPED STAGE THE SHOW.