Sharon Stone is sharing how her now-iconic all-white outfit in one of Basic Instinct’s most well-known scenes came to be.
Basic Instinct premiered in 1992 and starred Stone, 68, as crime novelist Catherine Tramell, who is implicated in a murder investigation spearheaded by Detective Nick Curran (played by Michael Douglas). The pair ultimately becomes entwined in a complicated relationship.
One scene sees Stone being interrogated by police officers when she crosses and then uncrosses her legs to reveal she has nothing on underneath her white skirt and matching mock turtleneck.
How the costume was chosen
In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Stone spoke about how her costume in the interrogation scene – reportedly among the most-paused scenes in movie history – was chosen.
“The director [Paul Verhoeven] and I spoke about what I would wear for the interrogation scene,” Stone said.
“I was feeling kind of a bit of pressure, and I said, ‘Well, I certainly hope you don’t think I’m going to wear my t— on a platter.’ And he said, ‘I don’t care if you wear a turtleneck and your hair in a bun.’ And that is how we designed the costume with the mock turtleneck and my hair up in a twist,” she explained.
The meaning behind the look
Stone added: “Even though she is being interrogated, she’s choosing when she’s going to expose, what she’s going to expose. It’s this way of showing things, so you think you’re just getting everything, but you’re not getting anything at all. It was a very interesting setup – costume, form, function, behavior.”
Reboot on the way
The film will be getting the reboot treatment, which was announced in July, though Stone has said there doesn’t seem to be a need for a revival – especially if the plot remains the same.
“If it goes the way the one that I was in went, I will just say, I don’t know why you’d do it,” she said in an interview with TODAY. “I mean, go ahead, but good f—ing luck.”
A lasting legacy
More than three decades later, the interrogation scene remains one of cinema’s most talked-about moments. Stone’s candid recollection of how the outfit came together – born from a refusal to wear something overly revealing and a director’s simple suggestion – adds a new layer to the film’s enduring mystique.
For Stone, the turtleneck and updo weren’t just a costume choice. They were a deliberate statement about control, exposure, and who gets to decide when and how much to reveal. In that sense, the outfit was as much a part of Catherine Tramell’s power as the character’s sharp wit.
As for the reboot? Stone’s response suggests she’ll be watching from a distance – if she watches at all.
