Marilyn Monroe’s JFK dress allegedly damaged after Kim Kardashian wore it to the Met Gala
Kim Kardashian turned heads at Met Gala 2022 when she walked down the red carpet in THE sheer crystal dress. The dress belonged to Marilyn Monroe and was made to custom fit her for her iconic ‘Happy Birthday Mr President’ performance for the then US President John F Kennedy. No one besides Marilyn Monroe had worn this dress before Kim Kardashian decided to wear it.
Kim’s choice of dress stirred a pot of controversy. While some said they were okay with Kim wearing the dress or that it didn’t matter, others were not so kind. Kim’s decision invited criticism from a lot of people for various reasons.
Now, the controversy has resurfaced with a new claim.
What is the claim? A Marilyn Monroe devotee, Scott Fortner, running the Instagram account marilynmonroecollection has alleged that after Kim Kardashian wore the dress to Met Gala, the dress has been significantly damaged. Fortner posted a before and after picture and video of the same.
In the after pictures, there are some small rips that can be seen on the dress and a few beads missing. The after picture of the gown was taken on June 12, 2022, by a visual artist and shared with Fortner.
Fortner condemned Ripley’s Believe It or Not for loaning the dress to Kim K and not taking proper care of it, despite claiming to do so.
Why is it a big deal? Marilyn Monroe is considered an icon of American pop culture in history and Hollywood’s history. Her belongings are also treated as historical pieces. Even decades after Monroe’s death, the actor has a legion of fans old and new who feel very sentimental towards the various portrayal of the actor and the treatment of her belongings.
Besides, the JFK dress in question was sold several times for millions of dollars, and now it is valued at over $10 million.
So when Kim K wore the dress, people criticised her and Ripley’s for the decision. Mainly, because Kim K has very different body measurements compared to Monroe and she would never fit into the dress. Kim also had to lose quite a significant amount of weight in a short time to step into the dress. Despite this effort (toxic as it is), Kim K did not fully fit into the dress at her signature butt.
Why did Kim Kardashian wear the dress? Reality TV star Kim Kardashian in her interviews after Met Gala 2022 said that she got the idea to wear Monroe’s dress while attending the same event in 2021. To be fair, the 2021 Met Gala dress code was 'American Independence' while this year’s dress code was ‘Gilded Glamour’.
So, in essence, Kim K really did not follow the dress code for 2022 Met Gala event.
Kim actually wore the dress only for ‘mere minutes’. And it was not the only dress she borrowed from the late Monroe’s wardrobe either for the night. She also wore a second dress belonging to Monroe at the event.
And all while she wore the dresses for a few minutes and for photo ops, there were security guards and representatives of Ripley’s standing by her side wearing gloves, ready to take the garments away for safe-keeping.
The story behind Marilyn Monroe’s JFK dress: Reports say that the mesh and marquisette dress had to be sewn onto Marilyn Monroe given how tight-fitting it was. The dress acted like a second skin for Monroe, giving the illusion of nudity. Monroe also decided back then to not wear anything underneath the dress.
According to Bob Mackie, who designed the dress when he was just out of fashion school and working for Jean Louis, Monroe wanted to wear something with a wow factor. It was also at the time when Monroe was facing trouble for her nude photo shoots from 1949 when she was struggling in her career. It is said that the dress was a statement piece by Monroe, who was always comfortable even being nude and did not care about the nude scandal.
Reactions: People on Twitter are unhappy with the news of the dress being damaged. While some are calling out Kim K and Ripley’s for damaging a piece of history, others are criticising them for abusing Marilyn Monroe even in her death.
I won’t shame Kim’s body but it didn’t belong squeezed into an iconic, historic dress too small for her just to inflate her ego so she could channel her “inner Marilyn.” What inner Marilyn is that? I like JFK but I’d know better than to wear one of Jackie’s gowns. Is Jackie next?
— Cathy Wood (@CathyWood24) June 14, 2022
Celebrities wearing historical pieces of fashion and jewellery, is not something new. Great care is always taken in such cases.