Jada Pinkett Smith wears the same Alaïa gown she wore 20 years ago: photos

Jada Pinkett Smith is drinking from the fountain of youth. The 52-year-old recently attended the 2024 Los Angeles LGBT Center Gala, and instead of finding a new gown, she looked through her archives to find a stunning black piece by Alaïa that she wore 20 years ago.

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Jada Pinkett first wore the gown in 2004, when she attended the Hollywood Awards Gala with her husband Will Smith. “Sis had to pull out that Alaïa piece she wore damn near twenty years ago for tonight’s event,” she wrote on Instagram. 

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She styled the gown almost exactly the same, only adding silver accessories with big earrings and bangles.

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Jada not only attended the LGBT Center’s gala but also presented Cynthia Erivo with the Schrader Award. The Schrader Award is named after the trailblazing LA gay rights activist Rand Schrader and “celebrates those of us whose star burns brightly enough so that others may dare to shine,” Jada explained.

Erivo joins Ariana Grande in the highly anticipated film adaptation of “Wicked” where she will portray Elphaba. She made a touching speech at the Gala about opening about her sexuality saying, “Claiming my queerness in public—and particularly, in the public eye—has meant taking a risk in order to claim my freedom.” “It seems that, all over, we are keen on seeing the world in black-and-white, rather than embracing the difficult (but beautiful) complexities of our humanity,” she continued, per the Los Angeles LGBT Center. 

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Erivo gained recognition on Broadway as Celie in “The Color Purple” before portraying Harriet Tubman in the Oscar-nominated film “Harriet” and Aretha Franklin in the National Geographic series “Genius.” She credited these roles for giving her strength and leaving a long-lasting impression.

“Whether it was the tenacity of Harriet, the audacity of Aretha, or the divinity of Celie, each of these roles has left me with a gift I am still fortunate enough to carry,” she said. Art “helps us to build bridges towards each other’s hearts,” Erivo continued. “This is why I keep singing, keep acting, keep creating. I know there are young people who need to see me speak out, so they can get one step closer to doing the same thing for themselves.”