Ever since Kim Kardashian hit the Met Gala 2022 red carpet in a stunning Marilyn Monroe dress, the American model has been making the headlines both for good and not-so-good reasons. Marilyn Monroe, the legendary star, wore a nude dress in 1962 to sing “Happy Birthday” to former US President JF Kennedy. While the whole internet is busy debating over her look, Bob Mackie, who illustrated the skin-tight gown for Marilyn, has now expressed his thoughts on Kim wearing the iconic original dress. In a candid conversation with Entertainment Weekly, Bob has said that “it was a big mistake” for Kim to wear it.
When Kim walked in the dress, which features more than 6,000 hand-sewn crystals on nude mesh fabric and a scooped neckline, several celebrated and applauded Kim for paying homage to the legend, while many slammed her for risking this sartorial heritage. And now American fashion designer Bob Mackie is not pleased with Kim re-wearing it to the soiree. Entertainment Weekly quoted Bob Mackie as saying, “I thought it was a big mistake. (Marilyn) was a goddess. A crazy goddess, but a goddess. 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.”
Echoing the historians’ concern, Bob also highlighted his worry over the damage to the dress. He said that wearing the gown was undoubtedly damaging its preservation and structural integrity. The report said that Bob sketched the iconic gown when he was only 23 years old, under the direction of Louis. And while sketching it, he was unaware of what the dress was for besides the fact that it was an original design for Marilyn Monroe to wear. Bob, who is now 82 years old, is best known for dressing entertainment icons such as Ann-Margret, Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Diahann Carroll, and Carol Channing, among others. Kim lost about 16 pounds in three weeks so she could fit into that famous outfit, which came from the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum in Orlando, Florida, and couldn’t be altered.
