$4.8M Marilyn Monroe Dress Damaged By Kim Kardashian’s Derriere At Met Gala

By Ashley Graham - Pretty Big Deal with Ashley Graham | Kim Kardashian West, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74378184

Before-and-after photos of the dress Marilyn Monroe famously wore to serenade John F. Kennedy on his 45th birthday revealed it was damaged after Kim Kardashian wore it to the Met Gala.

The dress appears to be ripped at the seams around the posterior area, where several crystal embellishments are also missing after the May 2 event. Kardashian was loaned the 60-year-old silk soufflé gown by Hollywood’s Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum, who bought it for $4.81 million in 2016.

The reality star admitted to crash dieting for three weeks to fit into the one-of-a-kind Jean Louis dress. She lost 16 lbs. by wearing a sauna suit twice a day, cutting sugar and carbs, and running on a treadmill. 

“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,” she told Vogue. “Everything had to be specifically timed and I had to practice walking up the stairs.”

Ripley’s claimed that “great care” was taken to preserve the dress Monroe had custom made to serenade JFK on his birthday in 1962. 

“With input from garment conservationists, appraisers, and archivists, the garment’s condition was top priority,” they posted. “Believe It or Not! no alterations were to be made to the dress and Kim even changed into a replica after the red carpet!⁠”

However, video footage of the Skims founder struggling to get the dress above her butt with the help of an entire wardrobe team, showed how much abuse the garment actually took.

Marilyn Monroe historian Scott Fortner said that the one-of-a-kind dress will not be able to be restored. 

“The gown’s original fabric isn’t even available today. Crystals that were seen in photos and videos of the dress prior to the Met Gala are no longer present, and some are literally hanging by threads. The fabric of the dress is ripped and pulled apart,” he told People.


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Michael Roland Mitchell
Michael Roland Mitchell
1 year ago

Everybody should have known that her big, fat ass was going to ruin the dress! How stupid!