Tuesday, March 26

Marilyn Monroe’s famous dress that Kim Kardashian wore to the Met Gala made a stop in St. Augustine


Kim Kardashian is known for breaking the internet, and she did it once again at the Met Gala on Monday night when she donned the iconic dress that Marilyn Monroe wore in 1962 as she famously sang “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy.

In 2016, the dress was sold at auction to Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for nearly $5 million, and in 2018, it was put on display at the Ripley’s in St. Augustine.

“The dress cost $4.81 million,” Edward Meyer, vice president of exhibits and archives for Ripley’s Entertainment Inc., said at the time. “The case cost $65,000. The graphics, we’ve probably got another $20,000 in it.”

Meyer helped buy the dress for Ripley’s and said the sky-high price was worth it.

ad

“It means a great deal to our company to own it, to have it here in historic St. Augustine, which is our original, very first Ripley’s museum,” he said. “It’s a bit of history.”

The gown, which was designed by Jean Louis and features thousands of handstitched crystals, made a stop at the Northeast Florida Ripley’s as part of the museum’s “Monroe-JFK” exhibit.

The iconic dress arrives in February 2018 at the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! in St. Augustine.

The dress moved onto other Ripley’s museums and eventually made its way back to a secure vault in Orlando. To this day, according to Vogue, it holds the record for being the most expensive dress sold at auction.

This year, the Met Gala returned to its berth on the first Monday in May after years of pandemic upheaval. The celebration of American design was themed to gilded glamour. Kardashian told Vogue that the most American thing she could think of was Monroe.

Also Read  Teacher Appreciation Week deals and freebies

ad

“For me, the most Marilyn Monroe moment is when she sang ‘Happy Birthday,’ to JFK. It was that look,” the reality TV star and entrepreneur said.

In this May 19, 1962 photo provided by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, actress Marilyn Monroe wears the iconic gown that she wore while singing “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden, during a reception in New York City. Standing next to Monroe is Steve Smith, President Kennedy’s brother-in-law. Julien’s Auctions will offer Monroe’s gown at auction in Los Angeles on Nov. 17, 2016. (Cecil Stoughton/White House Photographs, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum via AP) (Cecil Stoughton/White House Photographs, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum via AP)

According to Vogue, the piece is stored in a darkened vault that’s controlled at the optimum 68 degrees and 40-50% humidity, and before Ripley’s would agree to loan Kardashian the piece, she was invited to try on a replica, which fit perfectly. Soon after, the original dress was flown on a private plane from Orlando to her Kardashian’s home in Calabasas, California. She said it was transported by guards and she had to wear gloves to try it on, but that time, the dress didn’t fit.

“So when it didn’t fit me I wanted to cry because it can’t be altered at all,” she said.

Kardashian reportedly had to lose 16 pounds to fit into the dress.

“It was such a challenge,” she said. “I was determined to fit it.”

On Monday evening, Kardashian, with boyfriend Pete Davidson at her side, paired the dress with Cartier white gold drop diamond earrings and a furry white jacket. Ella’s hair was platinum, emulating Monroe, and she pulled tightly into a bun. But she only wore the fragile original dress for her de Ella walk up the Grand Staircase at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, changing into a replica after that, according to Vogue.

Also Read  Exhibition spotlights Asian Americans in fashion

ad

Kim Kardashian, right, and Pete Davidson attend The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” exhibition on Monday, May 2, 2022, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP) (AP)

Copyright 2022 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved./Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


www.news4jax.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *