At first glance, the dress Kim Kardashian wore to close out the 2022 Met Gala red carpet doesn’t look particularly special. It lacks the over-the-top silhouettes and dramatic, long trains of previous years. But when you hear the backstory, it turns out to be one of the most extreme, iconic moments in the event’s history.
As detailed in a piece written by Chioma Nnadi, who interviewed Kardashian ahead of the Met Gala for Vogue, the dress is the one Marilyn Monroe wore to sing “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” to John F. Kennedy on his 45th birthday in 1962, just three months before her passing — not a similar style, not a replica, not a duplicate, but the exact dress.
Designed by then-21-year-old Bob Mackie and made by costume designer Jean-Louis, the iconic look sold for a record-setting nearly $5 million at auction in 2016. It was later acquired by Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum, where it has been maintained in a light-, temperature-and humidity-controlled room since.
According to Fashionista, Kardashian had the idea to transform herself into Monroe after last year’s gala in September. Because there’s seemingly nothing she and her family can’t leverage their power to achieve, Ripley’s agreed to let her wear Monroe’s dress as long as she kept it pristine and unaltered.
With her equally legendary, but slightly larger, curves, Kardashian decided to lose weight — 16 pounds, she said during Vogue‘s livestream — to fit into Monroe’s dress, rather than wear something else. She also dyed her hair platinum blonde, which took 14 hours, and had a special, secret room set up near the Met steps, equipped with a conservationist to help her change right before her turn on the carpet. She did all of this just to wear the dress for a few minutes, changing into a replica after she ascended the stairs because she wouldn’t be able to sit or eat in the original.
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