Jennifer Garner brought back one of her most iconic characters for Halloween.
The actress, 52, celebrated the spooky holiday and the 20th anniversary of 13 Going on 30 by recreating her character Jenna Rink’s famous party outfit from the beloved 2004 rom-com. Garner even debuted her costume by recreating the scene of Jenna getting ready for her office party — with some updated touches.
“Happy 20th Halloween, Jenna Rink 💕,” Garner captioned her Wednesday, October 30, social media post. Much like the original scene — also set to Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” — Garner begins her party prep by doing her makeup. Only this time, Garner makes sure to apply a retinol cream and uses her glasses to help her put on eyeliner.
Poking fun at the moment Jenna debates wearing a thong to the party, Garner hilariously holds up a pair of Spanx in her Halloween video. She makes a few more changes to Jenna’s movie ensemble, swapping out her character’s blue heels for a pair of red sneakers and comfy socks, as well as trading Jenna’s shoulder bag for a crossbody purse.
Garner rocks Jenna’s famous green, blue, purple and brown patterned mini dress and matching teal butterfly necklace, but opts to wear her hair down instead of in Jenna’s early 2000s updo.
Fans gushed over Garner’s outfit recreation, with one Instagram user commenting, “No way hahah so perfect 🔥👌.” Another fan exclaimed: “I’m crying omg!!! MY FAVORITE MOVIE FOREVER AND EVER.”
13 Going on 30 follows Jenna on her 13th birthday as she wishes to be “30, flirty and thriving.” To her surprise, she wakes up the next day to find herself in the future as her 30-year-old self. While navigating adulthood, she realizes her feelings for her childhood best friend, Matty (Mark Ruffalo), from whom she grew estranged. Realizing her life didn’t turn out quite how she expected, Jenna sets out on a mission to set things right.
The dress Garner wore in her Halloween costume — which was from the Versace spring/summer 2003 collection — was not the original one she wore in the film. During a November 2023 episode of The View, Garner revealed that the garment “ended up in a warehouse with other clothes from the movie” after filming wrapped.
“Well, first of all, you’re not supposed to keep your clothes,” she explained. “I’m a goody two-shoes so I [didn’t]. Also, who had any idea that that movie was gonna be more than just something that came and went?”
The dress made another onscreen appearance in an episode of Sex and the City. “It ended up in the background — it was just put on background players in Sex and the City,” Garner shared, before joking, “Get out of my dress! Give me my dress back! I love that dress.”
Christa B. Allen, who played 13-year-old Jenna in the movie, put her own twist on the outfit earlier this year in honor of the film’s 20th anniversary. “I reimagined the iconic dress as a gown with chainmail and rhinestones,” Allen, 32, captioned an April Instagram video of her longer, bejeweled version of Jenna’s dress. “I wanted to cover the entire dress in rhinestones but this already took so many hours as they’re each individually placed by hand … it will take hundreds of hours to complete the way I envisioned it.”
