Sharon Stone Shares Significant Career Decision That Impacted ‘Basic Instinct’ Interrogation Dress​on March 2, 2025 at 10:39 am

Sharon Stone made her tiny white mini-dress famous when she wore it for her interrogation scene in her breakthrough role in Basic Instinct.

Over 30 years later, the actress and painter has shared what happened to the dress, and the significance of her keeping it for herself.

Stone told The Times of London that, previously after she made a TV film in the 1980s, the studio sold off all her wardrobe at a discount, and she felt embarrassed by the prospect of production crew being able to buy her underwear. She recalled: “I thought, ‘Never again.’”

Stone explained: “I had it put into my contracts that I keep all my clothes from films, unless they are studio rentals.”

Her decision meant that, following the success of her role of murder suspect Catherine Tramell in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct in 1992, her memorable outfit was hers to keep. She told The Times:

“I keep the white minidress from Basic Instinct in a safe but have a ton of shoes from that movie in my closet, like black split-toe Gucci heels and strappy gold-studded ones. The rest of the costumes are in storage.”

On the eve of the Oscars, Stone was also asked her decision to break with tradition and wear a simple white shirt to the ceremony in 1998, her first red carpet appearance with her husband, newspaper editor Phil Bronstein. Stone explained:

“I’d just got married and I thought it would be a cool, sexy tribute to a newspaperman to wear a white shirt with his initials on it. Since he wasn’t in the business it was a nice way to bring him into my world.”