The story of Marilyn Monroe’s dress worn by Kim Kardashian at the Met Gala
The dress was made especially for Monroe, and Kim Kardashian had to make adjustments to her body to fit into it, rather than alter the dress.
Kim Kardashian had to lose 16 pounds (7.25 kg) in three weeks to fit into Marilyn Monroe’s dress for the Met Gala 2022. The golden gown, which is also the world’s most expensive dress, is a fashion history favourite. Monroe wore it while singing “Happy Birthday Mr President” to President John F Kennedy in 1962.
The gown’s debut left audiences astonished.
For almost everyone who witnessed it, it was an unforgettable moment. On May 19, 1962, at a celebration held 10 days ahead of his birthday in Madison Square Garden, Monroe serenaded the President wearing this soufflé gauze dress. Custom-made by French costumier Jean Louis, and based on a design by a young Bob Mackie, it was inspired by stage costumes Louis had made for Marlene Dietrich and her Las Vegas cabaret act in the 1950s and 60s.
The unlined, skintight, flesh-coloured gown was strategically embellished with 2,500 (some accounts say 6,000) hand-sewn crystals. It was said to be so tight that Monroe couldn’t wear anything underneath.
Monroe came on stage wearing an ermine fur coat over the dress, and when she removed it, an astonished audience let out a slight gasp, unsure if she was n@ked. It seemed she was covered in nothing but the twinkling of a thousand stars.
The dress and the song were enough to fuel rumours that Kennedy was having an affair with Monroe.
It went on to become the world’s most expensive dress.
Monroe paid $1,440 for it. In 1999, the dress sold at an auction for $1,267,500, beating a previous record set by an ink-blue gown worn by Diana, Princess of Wales. It was bought by Manhattan-based Gotta Have It! Collectibles.
On November 17, 2016, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! set a new Guinness World Record for the most expensive dress sold at an auction when they acquired the dress for a staggering $4.8 million. The original sketch by Mackie is also part of Ripley’s Believe It or Not!’s collection.
Kim Kardashian brought the golden dress to the Met Gala.
The theme for this year’s Met Gala was “Gilded Glamour”, a nod to the Gilded Age of the latter half of the 19th century in America — a period of rapid economic growth that saw many families, without any inherited wealth unlike the nobility, become rich. The term was coined by writer Mark Twain. Kardashian’s interpretation of the theme is not literal, but pays homage to an American icon and American fashion.
Vanessa Friedman wrote in The New York Times, “[W]hen it came to channeling history, Kim Kardashian, making the final entrance of the evening, … topped them all. In receiving the honour of being the last to arrive, she, a pop culture figure born of reality TV who had once been barred from the gala guest list, conclusively demonstrated that it is influence and fame, not just pedigree and filthy lucre, that are the real currency of success; the keys that unlock the doors of even the most exclusive events. Today, even more than in the original Gilded Age.”
She had to change herself, because the dress would not.
The dress was made especially for Monroe, and Kardashian had to make adjustments to her body to fit into it, rather than alter the dress. She also wore the gown only for the red carpet, and changed into a replica afterwards, keeping in mind the historic and fragile nature of the dress.
Kardashian persuaded Ripley’s Believe It or Not! to loan her the dress, and it came with “armed guards and gloves”, Kardashian said, according to a report in the New York Post.
“I’m extremely respectful to the dress and what it means to American history. I would never want to sit in it or eat in it or have any risk of any damage to it and I won’t be wearing the kind of body makeup I usually do,” Kardashian said, according to Entertainment. “Everything had to be specifically timed and I had to practice walking up the stairs.”
It is a fragile, priceless piece of history.
Vogue reported that the dress is stored in a darkened vault that’s controlled at the optimum 68 degrees Fahrenheit and 40-50% humidity, and it has rarely been separated from its muslin-covered dress form, let alone be worn by anyone other than Monroe.
Kardashian’s action has expectedly drawn criticism from audiences, who have said that it’s a historical object that should be treated with utmost care.
One could say that the “n@ked” dress was ahead of its time. Today, it is a perfectly acceptable red carpet choice. Back then, it would have been a bold move, and it seemed suitable that Monroe, portrayed by Hollywood as a sex symbol, should wear it.
The birthday appearance was one of the few major public appearances by Monroe before she died in August 1962, at age 36, of a drug overdose.
