Trista Sutter, 47, made TV history as the first Bachelorette 17 years ago. To greet her suitors on night one, the reality star donned a black dress that, according to Sutter, she might not have worn if it wasn’t for her friends.
The OG Bachelorette came on Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast on Tuesday, July 28, to talk about her experience on the hit ABC show, as well as the fashion items she still has from all those years ago.
“Oh, I do have a lot of them,” she told Us. “I actually … when we were watching the show with my girlfriends, the recap … My girlfriends made me put on my dress. The long black one that I wore the first night when the limos came.”
Dutiful Bachelor franchise fans likely remember that elegant, low-cut halter gown she wore that very first episode. The blonde beauty wore her hair down and accessorized with a heart-shaped pendant necklace.
“So I have that and actually can still fit in it, which is crazy,” she continued, reflecting on that timeless number. “I was proud of that.”
In addition to the black dress, the Indianapolis native has held onto some other special pieces from her time on the show. “I have my engagement dress, of course, my wedding dresses,” she explained. “I have a couple of the rose ceremony dresses and a couple of my outfits.”
Unlike the show’s current stars, Sutter didn’t have a fashion stylist to go out and find her dresses “like they do now.” Instead, she relied on a little help from her friends as well as the luxe department store chain, Saks.
“My mom was working for Saks Fifth Avenue at the time, she knew the CEO and he was like, ‘I’d love to outfit her,’ so I had set up this deal with Saks and they let me go shopping. I brought like a stylist, the show had me come with.”
She continued, “ So we picked out all these dresses and outfits and we’re taping the show and I find out that production is selling my clothes. And I was like, whoa, whoa, those are my clothes like I arranged all of this um, these are not your clothes to sell.”
So while some of her items got sold, the star wasn’t entirely bummed because after all, she found love! Sutter (then Rehn) married husband Ryan Sutter in 2003. Today, they have two children: Blakesley, 11 and Maxwell, 13.
“I’d rather walk away with a husband and a family future than some you know, a piece of material,” said Sutter, reflecting on the experience. “But yeah, it was a little maddening at the time.”
