Damage control. Kim Kardashian damaged Marilyn Monroe’s dress after she wore it to the 2022 Met Gala in May. A Marilyn Monroe collector documented what the dress looks like after Kim wore it on the red carpet of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Kim borrowed the dress Marilyn Monroe wore when she sang “Happy Birthday Mr. President” to John F. Kennedy in 1962 from Ripley’s Believe it Or Not! Museum. The theme for the Gala was Gilded Glamour. The museum released a statement regarding the decision to loan the dress, “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 … no alterations were to be made to the dress.” The Skims founder revealed in a Vogue interview that she lost 16 pounds to fit into the dress. Due to the historical preservation, Kim only wore the iconic dress on the red carpet and immediately changed into a replica of the dress. However, Scott Fortner, who runs the Instagram account for the Marilyn Monroe Collection, posted photos of the dress on Instagram on June 13, 2022, where the dress appears to be damaged.
According to a statement provided to Insider on June 14, 2022, Fortner said, “Though Ripley’s isn’t an actual museum held to the traditional standards for museum conservation, they still very much indeed had an obligation to protect and preserve this historic piece of American history, which evidently hasn’t happened.” The dress appeared to be “permanently damaged” when it was seen stretched, and some crystals were “left hanging by a thread.”
Monroe fan Chad Michael Christian Morrisette, who took photos of the dress at the Hollywood location of Ripley’s where the dress is located, called the dress “drastically different” from the original and that it was “frayed and tattered.” “I am heartbroken to what has happened to that piece of national treasure,” he said, before calling Kim a “cultural thief.”
Kim was fitted in the dress before the Met Gala at Ripley’s Believe it Or Not! in Orlando, FL, according to TMZ. The dress was reportedly not cleaned after Marilyn wore it during the iconic “Happy Birthday Mr. President” moment. The dress couldn’t zip up from her butt and a white fur coat draped over the zipper was the solution for wearing the dress. Her boyfriend Pete Davidson was seen telling his girlfriend to relax and breathe throughout the video that TMZ posted.
The Kardashians is available to stream on Hulu. Here’s how to watch it for free.
Image: Gallery Books.
For more about the Kardashians, check out Kris Jenner’s 2011 memoir, Kris Jenner…And All Things Kardashians, in which the momager tells her never-before-told story about how she led her six children—Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, Rob, Kendall and Kylie—to international stardom and built their multi-million dollar empire. You may think you know the Kardashians, but as Kris explains in her book, what’s in the media and in Keeping Up With the Kardashians is only the tip of the iceberg. In Kris Jenner…And All Things Kardashians, Kris reveals how she balanced six children (not to mention four stepchildren and numerous grandchildren) while building a business for her family. The book also dives into Kris’ relationship with Nicole Brown Simpson before and after her husband, O.J. Simpson, was accused of her murder. Kris Jenner…And All Things Kardashians is a must-read for any Kardashian fan.
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