Kim Kardashian stole the show at this year’s Met Gala by wearing Marilyn Monroe’s legendary “Happy Birthday Mr. President” dress from the 1960s.
Kardashian had struck a deal with Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum, where the dress was being kept, allowing her to borrow the dress for the event. Kardashian went on a very strict diet (which sparked controversy online) to fit into the dress, which she could only wear for a few minutes at the event to prevent damaging it.
However, there have been recent reports that Kardashian may have ruined the dress.
Marilyn Monroe Collections posted a series of Instagram posts on Monday about the damages that were found on the dress.
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Some of the crystals on the classic nude sparkly dress appear to be missing, while the others are dangling by a thread. As for the dress itself, which was made of soufflé gauze, there appears to be some stress on the fabric.
Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum, the one that bought and preserved the dress, said they wanted to maintain the integrity and history of the gown. As a result, no adjustments were made when Kardashian wore it and she even lost 16 pounds just to fit into the outfit. She changed into a replica of the dress right after posing for the red carpet.
Ripley claims that the dress has no serious damage, but they have yet to issue a statement in response to photographs of the ruined dress circulating on social media.
Kim Kardashian and her team have not yet spoken about the issue.
Marilyn Monroe’s “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” dress has been valued at nearly $5 million and is being displayed for a limited time in the Ripleys Believe It or Not Museum, located in Hollywood. Marilyn Monroe had worn the gown in 1962 when she performed “Happy Birthday” for then-president John F. Kennedy. The gown was sketched by Bob Mackie and created by Jean Louis as a dress “that only Marilyn Monroe could wear,” and the dress was actually too snug for Monroe so she had to be sewn into it. Kardashian is the only other person to have worn the dress since Monroe last wore it in 1962.
Some actually did disagree with the decision to let Kardashian wear the dress. Aside from the backlash on the controversial comments that Kardashian had made about her losing weight to fit into the dress, professional conservators were also against the decision, saying that it wasn’t a good idea to wear clothing with so much history, regardless of the reason or the person who would be wearing it. Bob Mackie himself was against the idea of letting Kardashian wear the dress. He told Entertainment Weekly that he “thought it was a big mistake” to let Kardashian wear the dress. /TV
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