The iconic Marilyn Monroe bedazzled dress worn by Kim Kardashian at the 2022 Met Gala has allegedly been damaged, perPage Six Style.
The Marilyn Monroe Collection shared a before and after photo of the dress on its Instagram account, which shows crystals missing and others hanging by a thread. The post references previous articles detailing the exhaustive efforts made by Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Museum to preserve the gown, which included a security team to oversee Kim’s every move and a representative who was allowed to pull the plug whenever they wished.
The Jean Louis dress was famously worn by Marilyn as she sang “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy in 1962.
Kardashian recalled on the Met Gala red carpet that she underwent a dramatic weight loss in order to fit in the dress. “I tried it on and it didn’t fit me,” she said. “I said, ‘Give me three weeks.’ I had to lose 16 pounds down today.” Riverdale star Lili Reinhart seemingly called out Kim for the confession without mentioning her by name.
“To walk on a red carpet and do an interview where you say how starving you are…because you haven’t eaten carbs in the last month...all to fit in a fucking dress?” she wrote. “So wrong. So fucked on 100s of levels.”
“To openly admit to starving yourself for the sake of the Met Gala,” she continued. “When you know very well that millions of young men and women are looking up to you and listening to your every word. The ignorance is other-worldly disgusting.”
Kardashian defended her decision in an interview with the New York Times, comparing her weight loss goal to someone like Christian Bale, who once shed 62 pounds for his role in the 2004 film The Machinist. She said her intention was never to inspire others to do the same, adding that she “didn’t do anything unhealthy” to fit into the dress.
Bob Mackie, the designer who served as an assistant to Jean Louis and was responsible for the original sketch of Marilyn’s gown, told EW that it was “a big mistake” to allow Kim to wear the dress in the first place. “[Marilyn] was a goddess. A crazy goddess, but a goddess,” Mackie explained. “She was just fabulous. Nobody photographs like that. And it was done for her. It was designed for her. Nobody else should be seen in that dress.”
