I probably had it on for three minutes, four minutes, and then I changed at the top of the stairs.” Kotb then asked Kardashian about the claims of the dress being “ruined” after she wore it. “No … Ripley's [and I] worked together so well,” the 40-year-old replied.
As Kim revealed, she only got to wear it because of her mother's persuasiveness. "I flew all the way to Florida to try on the Marilyn dress at Ripley's," Kardashian, 42, explained. "They were not gonna let me wear this dress, they were not even gonna let me try it on until Kris Jenner calls...
According to the KKW Beauty founder, the idea of wearing the late actress' dress felt like the perfect representation of America. "When she sang Happy Birthday to John F. Kennedy — who is America — I thought where is the dress that she wore?" she recalled. "[Ripley's Believe It or Not] said I can try on the dress."
But Kardashian's decision to pursue Monroe's dress was instantly met with controversy. The Bob Mackie-designed dress was made specifically for Monroe's body measurements, and she was famously sewn into the skin-tight dress before she took to the stage to sing happy birthday to the president.
Created 60 years ago by Hollywood designer Jean Louis, with help from Bob Mackie, the dress was loaned to Kardashian for the Met Gala, with the agreement that no alterations were allowed to be made.
Kim Kardashian Wore Marilyn Monroe's $5 Million Dress To The Met Gala With Pete Davidson. Kim Kardashian is a Met Gala veteran at this point.
Kardashian borrowed the dress from Ripley's Orlando location and she did not pay for it – but she did make two charitable donations to organizations in the Orlando are on behalf of the company, the post reads. Ripley's bought the dress at a private auction.
Kardashian, 41, vowed to not make any alterations to the dress — declared a “national treasure” to The Post by one noted Monroe expert — and altered herself instead. She infamously admitted that she lost 16 pounds in three weeks in order to squeeze into the dress.
Either way, after a conversation with Jenner, Kardashian was allowed to try on the dress, and, after weeks of dieting and working out, she was able to fit into it, with just some slight maneuvering of her famous butt.
The dress was reportedly not cleaned after Marilyn wore it during the iconic “Happy Birthday Mr. President” moment. The dress couldn't zip up from her butt and a white fur coat draped over the zipper was the solution for wearing the dress.
Estimated to go for about $2 million, it ultimately sold for $4.8 million to Ripley's Believe It or Not!, which later advertised it as “the world's most expensive dress!” and kept it in a vault in its museum in Orlando, Fla.
Marilyn Monroe would wear size 8 today while Kim Kardashian would be an 18 in 1970s | Daily Mail Online.
Does Marilyn have any children? No. Although Marilyn was married three times (first to James Dougherty, followed by baseball star Joe DiMaggio and playwright Arthur Miller), she did not have any children before her death in 1962. However, she really wanted to have a family and did have multiple documented pregnancies.
“The Kardashians” star, who rendered textile conservators and fashion historians “speechless” upon donning the delicate 1962 gown, said Tuesday on NBC News' “Today” that she did not damage the dress when she wore it for “minutes” for the red-carpet portion of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute gala.
She barely wore Marilyn's actual dress. Due to the fact that this is an invaluable piece of fashion history, Vogue reports that Kim wore the original dress “for a matter of minutes” on the Met Gala red carpet itself before immediately switching to a replica gown. Kim in the original dress.
Caption Options. "It was such a process. I showed up to the red carpet in a robe and slippers and I put the dress on on the bottom of the carpet, then went up the stairs. I probably had it on for three or four minutes, and I changed right at the top of the stairs.
Kim Kardashian Wore Two Marilyn Monroe Dresses at the Met Gala.
While her journey to get into the dress seemed to be going well, she hit a metaphorical snag when she couldn't fit into the original... leading her to try and drop 16 pounds in just three weeks, including a strict diet, sauna suits and more.
Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926, at the Los Angeles General Hospital in Los Angeles, California. Her mother, Gladys Pearl Baker (née Monroe; 1902–1984), was born in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico to a poor Midwestern family who migrated to California at the turn of the century.
Her father was nowhere to be found. Baker didn't have the money to take care of Monroe, so she shuttled the child between orphanages and foster homes. After Baker was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and institutionalized in 1934, family friend Grace Goddard took charge of Monroe's upbringing.
In order to fit into the dress, Kim revealed that she "would wear a sauna suit twice a day, run on the treadmill, completely cut out all sugar and all carbs, and just eat the cleanest veggies and protein." "I didn't starve myself," Kim concluded.
Monroe's natural eye color was most likely to be blue, as recorded in her sister's autobiography (48) – “but our eyes were different … Norma Jeane's were blue like our mother's” – and on her autopsy report (49), in addition to Capote's description of her “blue-grey eyes” while wearing glasses (46).
It is now estimated to be worth more than $10m, the museum says. Adorned with more than 6,000 hand-sewn crystals, the gown was designed by lauded French costume designer Jean Louis.
The gown is so famous and so valuable because it was worn by the actress when she sang Happy Birthday to President John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Gardens in 1962. The piece, designed by Jean Louis, was custom-made for Marilyn's signature curves.