Google Picture search engine is a lifesaver for hundreds of thousands of web customers in the present day. The picture search engine was created in 2001, 5 years after Google, the dad or mum engine got here into being. However the story of its genesis is an attention-grabbing one and it has at its coronary heart, a popular culture phenomenon shepherded by a celebrity, and never something technological. That is the story of an actress-singer and her ‘viral’ costume that gave start to a search engine.

Jennifer Lopez and her inexperienced Versace costume
In 1999, designer Donatella Versace designed a inexperienced silk chiffon costume with a slit within the entrance. The costume had been worn by Versace herself to the 1999 Met Gala and offered by mannequin Amber Valletta on the ramp early in 2000. However its actual declare to fame is the way it catapulted Jennifer Lopez to international web stardom. Lopez, already a giant star within the music and appearing world on the time, wore this costume to the 2000 Grammy Awards on February 23, 2000. As she arrived on the crimson carpet, she created fairly a frenzy and have become the main focus of the press photographers. Whereas presenting an award along with her on stage, actor David Duchovny quipped, “That is the primary time in 5 or 6 years that I am certain that no person is me.”

The costume’ web furore

For weeks after the occasion, the gree Versace costume was featured in information tales and mentioned in TV specials and way of life columns. Photos of Lopez within the inexperienced costume had been downloaded from the Grammy web site over 6 lakh instances in simply 24 hours after the occasion. The search quantity on Google for photos of the actress within the costume additionally led to a revolution – Google Photos.

Jennifer Lopez within the inexperienced costume on the 2000 Grammys (left) and recreating the take a look at the 2020 Milan trend present (proper)

How the inexperienced costume gave start to Google Photos

On the time, Google Search outcomes had been solely pages of textual content with hyperlinks. However within the days after the Grammys, builders within the firm realised that the most well-liked search question they’d ever seen was Jennifer Lopez’s inexperienced Versace costume from the Grammys. No textual content web page might fulfill this question. Therefore the corporate paired engineer Huican Zhu with product supervisor Susan Wojcicki to construct a brand new picture search software. Google Picture Search was formally launched in July 2001. By 2010, it was indexing over 10 billion pictures.

Jennifer Lopez’s rising celeb

Jennifer Lopez has solely grown in stature and wealth for the reason that viral inexperienced costume. The actress is reportedly price $400 million (Rs 3300 crore) in the present day, making her one of many richest feminine entertainers on this planet. She prices as a lot as $1.2-1.5 million (Rs 10-15 crore) for only a public look. In 2020, Lopez wore an up to date model of the enduring inexperienced costume – on the age of fifty – on the Milan trend present.