Salma Hayek may have unlimited access to the house of Gucci, but that hasn't always been the case.

The Frida actress recently opened up about how in the early days of her career, it was difficult to find people who wanted to dress her. In fact, while attending one of her first major red carpet events, the 1996 Birdcage premiere, she had to get creative with her look.

Instead of slipping into a glitzy dress, she wore a men's suit.

"I didn't have any connections," Salma told W magazine in an interview published Aug. 15. "The only connection I had was to somebody I knew at Hugo Boss, so I wore a man's suit because no one else gave me anything to wear."

The 56-year-old previously echoed similar sentiments, noting that designers passed on styling her due to being a relatively unknown actress. Plus, dressing a curvy woman during a time when "heroin chic" was en vogue also proved to be challenging.

"I'm Mexican," she told Vogue India in August 2021. "I'm also very short, which doesn't help with the weight and doesn't help with the design. But you know, I was ingenious. I took chances."

For Salma, thinking outside of the box paid off and made her stand out on the red carpet.

"Another time, I had on a very simple black dress and I knew all the other girls were going to have fabulous dresses, beautiful jewelry," she shared. "And can I tell you something? Instead of giving me a complex and saying that I don't have the best dress or they don't know who I am..I was like, 'I am fabulous.'"

She added, "I painted some butterfly tattoos on myself and I felt happy about myself."

These days, the House of Gucci actress has racks of clothes to choose from all of the top designers. After all, her husband François-Henri Pinault is the CEO of Kering, which owns luxury brands like Gucci, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen and Bottega Veneta, among others.

"What did I tell you?" Salma cheekily told Vogue India. "I make everything work for me, I married the owner of a fashion company. Now they have to make me the clothes. Karma for them."

From sporting sleek suits to kickstarting the tiara trend, Salma has always been ahead of the curve. Keep scrolling to look back at her fashion evolution. 

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