Kim Kardashian’s Met Gala 2022 outing saw her donning the vintage nude dress worn by Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe. At the time there were many who pointed out that the garment was a piece of history and should not be worn. And now it seems that the critics were right. In a report shared by Page Six Style and an anonymous fashion critic page on Instagram named Diet Prada, it has been revealed that the reality television star damaged the dress.
The Instagram post shared by Diet Prada showed a before and after photo of the dress which shows crystals missing and others hanging by a thread. The caption accompanying the post read, “Compared to images of the dress on display in 2016, the differences are more than apparent. Ripley’s claims that ‘great care was taken to preserve this piece of pop culture history,’ but the new photos seem to suggest otherwise.”
Another Instagram post shared by Marilyn Monroe Collection posted references previous articles detailing the exhaustive efforts made by Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Museum to preserve the gown. This included a security team to oversee Kim’s every move and a representative who was allowed to pull the plug whenever they wished. ⠀
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The Jean Louis dress, which is over 60-year-old, was famously worn by Marilyn as she sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to then US President John F. Kennedy in 1962. Initially, Kim could not fit into the dress, which led to Ripley denying her permission to wear it. But the SKIMS founder proudly admitted to losing 16 pounds to be able to fit into the iconic dress on the red carpet, which sparked outrage from the public and experts alike. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
It was not just netizens but officials like the former head of conservation at the Met’s Costume Institute, Sarah Scaturro, as well, who expressed her concern. Sarah told the LA Times in an interview in May that in the ’80s, a bunch of costume professionals came together to make a resolution that historic costumes should not be worn. She added that the precedent set by Kim would leave her colleagues in historic costume collections under pressure from important people to let them wear garments.
