Twenty years later, Kristin Cavallari is still the girl in the white coat.
The former “Laguna Beach” star, 39, wore a white strapless minidress and black choker to Thursday night’s “The Reunion: Laguna Beach” premiere event, an intentional callback to the MTV show’s first episode.
In the 2004 pilot A Black & White Affair, co-star Roe Bosworth dismissed a white dress as “tacky and tacky” while preparing for a black-and-white themed party.
Anyway, teenage Cavallari showed up wearing white, prompting Lauren Conrad to quipped, “We all wear black and Kristin loves wearing white. How ironic.” This line established the two as rivals and set the tone for Cavallari’s role as the show’s resident rule breaker.
Before appearing on the red carpet at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica, Calif., Cavallari reflected on the moment and explained her sartorial choices on Instagram Stories for her brand Uncommon James.
“I knew I had to wear a white dress tonight and it had to look like it. So it was kind of an upgraded version of the original dress,” she said.
She accessorized with an Uncommon James Laguna black choker ($45), beige lace-up sandals, and a black clutch.
“Someone said Laguna Beach is back…so that means black chokers are back too,” she wrote on Instagram.
Cavallari wasn’t the only one choosing color this time. Co-stars Lauren Conrad and Morgan Smith (née Olsen) also wore white dresses to the premiere.
The premiere celebrated “The Reunion: Laguna Beach,” a two-hour Roku special premiering April 10 that brings the original cast, including Stephen Colletti, Bosworth and Taran Toriello, together on screen for the first time in 20 years. Cavallari, Conrad and Colletti will also serve as executive producers.
A trailer for the reunion released earlier this week shows Cavallari directly addressing his former rival. “We’ve never had a conversation on camera, just the two of us. Are you ready?” she asks Conrad.
The mother of three said the shoot was “very therapeutic” and that she and Conrad are now friends. “Now everyone can put away their Team Lauren and Team Christine shirts,” she wrote on Instagram last year.
“Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County” premiered on MTV in September 2004 and ran for three seasons. The series, inspired by the teen drama “The O.C.,” shot Conrad, Cavallari and Colletti to stardom and spawned spinoffs “The Hills” and “The City.”
