Justin Timberlake set up ‘wardrobe malfunction’ to one-up Britney: stylist

The stylist who prepped Janet Jackson’s look for her infamous 2004 Super Bowl appearance with Justin Timberlake tells Page Six that Timberlake pushed for the “wardrobe malfunction” in an attempt to outdo Britney Spears, Madonna and Christina Aguilera, who had wowed the world months earlier by scandalously kissing at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Superstylist Wayne Scot Lukas told us that Timberlake “insisted on doing something bigger than their performance. He wanted a reveal”.

Scot Lukas told us that the original concept was for Jackson to be in a pearl G-string inspired by one that Kim Cattrall had worn in an episode of “Sex and the City”.

“Janet was going to be in a Rocha dress, and [Justin] was going to step on the back of her dress to reveal her butt in this pearl G-string”, he told us. But “the outfit changed a couple of days before, and you saw the magic”.

Of course, in the end Timberlake tore off part of her top at the end of their performance, briefly revealing Jackson’s breast. Timberlake famously labeled the incident a “wardrobe malfunction”.

“I wouldn’t call it a wardrobe ‘malfunction’ in a million years. It was the most functioning wardrobe in history. As a stylist, it did what it was intended to do”, he said.

Timberlake’s recent apology to Jackson — and his manager Johnny Wright’s subsequent insistence that Jackson forgives him — is what sparked Lukas to open up about the incident after 17 years.

“Janet has already forgiven Justin in private. They made their peace a long time ago”, he said.

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