Why She Wore It: The Scoop on Alessandra Ambrésio's Style

If it weren’t for one particular celeb, Alessandra might never have worn this heavily-beaded gown: ! “I had been following Jennifer Lopez’s admiration for Zuhair Murad and noticed how incredible each gown was,” stylist Jennifer Mazur tells PEOPLE of her first experience styling the model. Mazur also convinced her client to ditch the pale colors she’d be wearing so much because, “I wanted to make her look like a freaking supermodel!” Mission accomplished.

“Because she had done so much sparkle in the past, I really tried not to go in that direction,” says Mazur. But then she spotted this show-stopper and threw her original plan out the window. “I saw this gown and was like, done!” But it almost wasn’t a done deal. The stylist knew tons of other celebs would want the dress so she “begged the Cavalli team” to keep it for Alessandra.

It’s the gown that almost didn’t happen. Mazur had seen it on the runway in a different shade, but knew her client would look most stunning in white. “[The team] had 48 hours to make this dress for her. They dropped everything else they were doing,” Mazur says. “I created mood boards to make sure everything was absolutely perfect.”

According to Mazur, Alessandra stepped out in this leather-and-silk mini “before everyone was really wearing cutouts on the red carpet.” (Are you even surprised it was the sexy supermodel who spearheaded the trend?) And again, the stylist had to fight to make sure she got the look for her client: “I contacted the brand and was like ‘I need this dress, don’t let anyone wear it!’”

Mazur fell so in love with this dress that she had it flown in from Paris. But the design was actually deemed too sexy (yes, even for a Victoria’s Secret Angel) and Mazur had the slit – originally ending above the hipbone – closed up a bit. “We also added a bit of lining at the top.”

We all know stylists look at a lot of options before narrowing it down, but even after deciding on the designer, Mazur reveals she looked at a whopping 30 creations by Cavalli. So, what was it about this dress that won her over? “She had never worn that color blue and she wears a lot of short,” Mazur explains. “And I tend to pick pieces with interesting backs,” which this number certainly has.