Blake Lively on Wearing Britney Spears’ ‘Actual’ Dress to It Ends With Us Premiere: ‘It Should Be in the Smithsonian’ (Exclusive)

Blake Lively couldn’t believe she recreated one music superstar’s look during the latest stop on the It Ends with Us press tour.

Lively, 36, pulled out all the stops for the film’s red carpet premiere in New York City on Tuesday, Aug. 6, and paid homage to Britney Spears by wearing a vintage Versace gown the “Gimme More” singer wore in 2002.

“It is Britney’s actual dress,” Lively exclusively tells PEOPLE. “It should be in the Smithsonian or the Met. But it’s on me. I feel so lucky!”

Fully in line with the floral-themed dressing she’s been doing for the entire summer — tied to her character Lily Bloom and her floral shop in the movie — the Versace dress includes a couple of embellished flowers across her waist. The multicolored sequined dress has a one-shoulder halter neckline and a different cutout across her bodice.

Lively accessorized with rings from Lorraine Schwartz’s fine jewelry line, each of which matched the colors of the dress, including vibrant pink and pastel blue, and a pair of dangle drop earrings with the same colors. She kept her shoes simple and wore iridescent strappy heels.

Meanwhile, her glam also played into the gown’s colors. Lively had a soft pink eyeshadow look that matched her matte lipstick. She left her long blonde hair in loose waves that cascaded down her back.

Lively also shared a sweet message for the superstar singer to her Instagram Stories on Tuesday: “Todays mood. The ultimate queen who made us all want to sparkle and write and share our stories,” she wrote above a photo of Spears wearing the Versace ensemble in 2002.

“Britney, us millennials all have a story of a moment, or of years that you made us want to shine and inspire awe, with strength, and joy and immensely hard work,” she added. “Thank you for your example and your contribution to women telling their stories.”

Lively walked the red carpet with her husband, Ryan Reynolds, who wore an olive green suit with a white floral boutonniere — also in reference to Lively’s character. They were also accompanied by Reynolds’ Deadpool & Wolverine costar Hugh Jackman.

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Since kicking off promo for the movie, based on the book of the same name by Colleen Hoover, back in June, Lively has been wearing florals in any way she can find them. She told PEOPLE while promoting her Blake Brown haircare line that she loves method dressing when promoting a project because it allows her to really sink into a character.

“I’m so excited method dressing is such a thing now because years ago when I did A Simple Favor, people were like, ‘Why are you dressing like your character? Why are you in suits?’” Lively said, referencing her  2018 promo tour for the Paul Feig movie for which she just  filmed an upcoming sequel. “And I was like, because we have no marketing money to promote this movie. It’s a small movie and the only thing people really pay attention to at these junket interviews is the photos of fashion so if I just wear men’s suits, people are going to go, ‘Why is she just wearing suits?’ And then they’re going to go, ‘Oh, because she’s in a movie and she’s wearing men’s suits.’ It’s a marketing hack to try to get people to pay attention to our movie. And it worked.” 

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Lively surely has more floral looks up her sleeve as the release of It Ends with Us approaches. Though she’s worn everything from minidresses to flower-print jeans and floral shorts to embroidered chaps, there must be something left in her closet with a flower on it that she can wear before the film hits theaters on Aug. 9.