The incredible true story behind Sharon Stone's iconic white dress from 'Basic Instinct'

wonderwall.com:

InStyle, the actress, 63, said she actually picked out the dress on her own — and, per her contract, she got to keep her entire wardrobe."The costume designer, Ellen Mirojnick, took me to Rodeo Drive and said, 'You can pick out any one thing that you want for your character,'" Sharon said. "At this point in my life, the idea that I could go into one of those high-end stores where a purse costs $20,000 and not feel like an impostor was beyond my comprehension."Sharon, a newcomer to film at the time, felt it was important to be able to keep her wardrobe, largely based on the fact that co-star Michael Douglas was making $14 million for the movie.

Sharon was making $500,000.While diehard fans of the movie likely remember different outfits, the white dress is forever immortalized."We decided to go for all white because my character had a very Hitchcockian vibe," Sharon said. "But Ellen designed the dress so that I could sit like a man if he was being interrogated.

It gave me the ability to move my arms and legs, take up space, and exercise control over a room full of men."The scene "turned out to be a pretty big deal," Sharon laughed, citing the Halloween costumes that spawned from the dress."I still have almost all of the wardrobe too.

I've given some pieces away to charity, but so far, I've kept the white dress and coat," she said. "It was zipped up in a garment bag on the set, and it has never been opened since.