Last night, fashion’s unofficial watchdog Diet Prada shared new photos of the damage which was done to Marilyn Monroe’s dress after Kim Kardashian donned the gown to the 2022 Met Gala.
The photos were originally posted by Scott Fortner from ‘The Marilyn Monroe Collection’ the world’s largest private collection of Monroe’s personal property & archives. The latest photos of the dress, which is currently on display at Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Museum, shows the dress looking considerably worse for wear with tears along the back closure, as well as missing crystals and sequins. The photos are clearly very different from ones taken by Scott back in 2016. The dress itself is over 60 years old, and was first worn by Marilyn to celebrate the birthday of president John F. Kennedy.
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Kim Kardashian had sparked controversy even at the time of wearing the dress, after she famously told Vogue’s red carpet journalists at the Met Gala that she could not fit into the dress originally and had to shed 16 pounds in order to wear it. According to Diet Prada, “Kim could initially not fit into the dress, which led to Ripley’s denying her permission to wear it but the reality star proudly admitted to losing 16 pounds to be able to fit into the iconic dress on the red carpet, which sparked outrage from the public and experts alike.”
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Photos shared by Diet Prada show the extent of the damage of the dress
As well as Scott Fortner, the designer who made the original sketches for the dress Bob Mackie, is equally unimpressed by Ripley’s decision to allow the dress to be worn by Kim. “It was designed for [Marilyn Monroe]. Nobody else should be seen in that dress,” Mackie told Entertainment Weekly earlier this year.
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Kim Kardashian had sparked controversy even at the time of wearing the dress,
At the time Ripley’s Believe It or Not! stated, “Great care was taken to preserve this piece of pop culture history. With input from garment conservationists, appraisers, and archivists, the garment’s condition was top priority. Believe It or Not! no alterations were to be made to the dress and Kim even changed into a replica after the red carpet!”