Iconic Marilyn Monroe dress allegedly damaged after being worn by Kim Kardarshian
PETALING JAYA, June 14 - Kim Kardashian’s decision to don one of Marilyn Monroe’s dresses may have ruined a piece of fashion history.
Kardashian wore the skin-tight, bejewelled dress to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala, or more famously known as the Met Gala, in May.
The dress, first worn by Monroe in 1962, was purchased by Ripley’s Believe It Or Not at a 2016 auction for US$4.8 million (approximately RM21.2 million).
Scott Fortner of The Marilyn Monroe Collection, which claims to be the largest 'privately held collection of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia”, took to Instagram yesterday to post multiple before-and-after pictures of the dress.
The pictures compared Fortner’s own 2016 photographs of the dress, to newer ones taken by visual artist Chad Michael Christian Morrisette on June 12.
The recent images show tearing around the dress’ back closure, as well as loose and missing crystals.
'So much for keeping ‘the integrity of the dress and the preservation’,” said Fortner in one post, tagging Ripley’s Believe It Or Not to ask 'Was it worth it?”.
Fortner’s post was further amplified by fashion watchdog Diet Prada on Instagram, where commenters questioned Ripley’s Believe It Or Not for loaning out the dress in the first place.
'They (Ripley’s) made the decision, maybe ask them if it was worth it instead of blaming Kim.
'I get it’s cool to hate her but in the scope of bad sh*t this ranks low considering Ripley's role and their continued lack of care for history,” said one user.
According to TMZ, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not initially denied Kardashian’s request to wear the dress, relenting after the media personality said she lost 16 pounds (7 kilogrammes) to fit into it.
Although Kardashian had only worn the dress on the red carpet, swapping it for a replica for the actual gala event, the move sparked controversy among fashion fans and museum conservators alike.
'As museum professionals, we strongly recommend all museums to avoid lending historic garments to be worn, as they are artifacts of the material culture of its time, and they must be kept preserved for future generations,” said the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Costume (ICOM) in a public statement in May.
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