Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Denies Claims That Kim Kardashian Damaged Marilyn Monroe’s Dress
For some reason, over a month after Met Gala 2022, Kim Kardashian’s Marilyn Monroe dress stunt is back in the news. The story is apparently that the gown might’ve been damaged but, in the big picture, does it matter?
Rewind to early May. The 2022 Met Gala red carpet is wrapping up and, of course, Kardashian and beau Pete Davidson are fashionably late, he in a suit or whatever and her in the dress that Marilyn Monroe wore in 1962 when she sang “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy.
It was pure cosplay, down to the platinum blonde hairdo and minimalist jewelry. But, at the end of the day, it was shockingly tame.
Remember her “wet” dress? Even that all-black Balenciaga look from 2021 was more memorable than the Monroe dress.
Not because the dress isn’t beautiful, mind you, but because it’s rather tame by today’s standards of scintillation. Form-fitting beige dress with crystals? This is nothing new or even especially interesting compared to what designers like Alaïa and Christopher John Rogers are doing with red carpet gowns these days.
Point is, there were far more provocative and interesting outfits worn by other Met Gala attendees this year and, had Kim’s not had the historical context, it hardly would’ve been more interesting than anything else she’s worn to The Met or any other big ticket event.
But that context was important enough for most. In fairness, that’s what makes this dress priceless (or, really, worth $4.8 million) so that’s headline-worthy enough, I guess.
With anything Kardashian, though, controversy follows and Kim’s Monroe moment was immediately met with backlash that died off as quickly as anything that the internet gets mad about. Or so we thought.
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On June 13, images and video began circulating of Monroe’s dress back in the collection of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! in Orlando, where it’d been housed prior to Kardashian’s Met Gala outing.
Viewers began pointing out some apparent “damage” to the dress, which included fraying on a strap and pulling at some threads on the rear seam.
Ripley’s asserts that, “From the bottom of the Met steps, where Kim got into the dress, to the top where it was returned, the dress was in the same condition it started in,” according a statement from Amanda Joiner, vice-president of publishing and licensing.
I dunno, it certainly looks like there was some stretching here and light tearing there. Which is hardly a surprise, by the way, considering Kardashian and Monroe’s borderline incomparable physicalities — Kardashian reportedly dropped 16 pounds in three weeks to fit into the gown, though she’s still far curvier than Monroe.
The outrage spurred by Kardashian’s perceived insolence towards an old dress generated a brand new meme format.
can’t believe kim kardashian did this to lady gaga’s meat dress 😩 pic.twitter.com/uzedFIyR8E
— jack (@fkajack) June 15, 2022
Which highlights some of the silliness involved in getting mad about the whole situation. Rich people do whatever they want with whatever they want, nothing is sacred. We should all know this by now.
Plus, this dress was housed in a goddamn tourist attraction down the road from Disney. It’s like getting mad that Mick Jagger’s boxers weren’t handled with enough care at a Hard Rock Cafe.
That comparison might be a little too flip but it’s true that none of us had spared a moment’s thought about that specific dress until Kardashian pulled it on for the first Monday in May.
Like, the dress doesn’t appear to be deteriorating any further and there are ample photographs of it before and after for archivists to study should they wish to do so.
Anyone complaining about this being indicative of some kind of Marilyn Monroe exploitation has a whole lotta FUNKO Pop! figures and cheapo merch to take up with the actress’ license-happy estate first.
It’s easy to hate on Kardashian — not always unjustifiably — but in this case, the wear caused by one of the few women as famous as Monroe herself is now merely part of the dress’ ongoing legacy.
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