The Best Oscar Dresses of All Time Giveaway

At the Academy Awards in 1995, Lizzy Gardiner collected her Oscar for Best Costume Design wearing a gown made of 254 expired American Express Cards. "I'm broke, and I didn't have anything to wear," Gardiner said of her creation, which was an idea she originally designed for the movie "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" but it was turned-down by the credit card company for the film.

However, when she explained that as a nominee she wanted to wear the dress on the Red Carpet – Amex liked the idea so much that it sent her 300 platinum cards with her name embossed on them! Lizzy and Los Angeles designer Salvadore Perez whipped the whole thing together in about 12 hours. After she won, comic David Letterman quipped, "I'm tellin' ya, American Express can't buy publicity like that."

But they did! The very next day they bought the dress from Lizzy!   And she also wore it in a series of magazine ads that said “You only need one in your wallet” and beneath in small print, “Congratulations – and thank you.”

Some years later American Express auctioned off the dress. The proceeds went to the American Foundation for Aids Research.