Double the fun! Kim Kardashian transformed into Marilyn Monroe for the 2022 Met Gala and it’s safe to say that she’s left both fans and critics at a loss for words.
The KKW Beauty founder, 41, borrowed the late actress’s famous dress from Ripley’s Believe It or Not!Museum in Orlando. She says she lost 16 pounds in three weeks to get into the dress.
The museum purchased the iconic number from Julien’s Auctions for $4.6 million in 2016, making it one of the most expensive dresses in the world.
Considering its price and history, getting her hands on the dress wasn’t exactly an easy feat for Kardashian. “I had this idea to try it on and then they came with armed guards and gloves,” she told VogueRed carpet correspondent La La Anthony
She teamed the rhinestone-embroidered Jean Louis gown with a white fur shawl and diamond earrings, just as Monroe did 60 years prior when the Some People Like It Hot actress sang “Happy Birthday” to then-President John. F. Kennedy at a Madison Square Garden Fundraiser.
Kardashian even dyed her brunette strands Monroe’s signature shade of platinum blonde for the occasion — a grueling process that took a whopping 14 hours courtesy of celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton.
The dress was last worn in 1962 by Monroe, who wore it to President John F. Kennedy’s wedding.
Per Diet Prada, Monroe purchased the dress for “around $1,440 in 1962” which would ring in at about $13,000 today.
Kardashian was asked to transform the historic dress into a replica, after she had posed in it on red carpet.
The mother of four revealed that she had been working on this look for months. “The idea really came to me after the gala in September last year,” she told Vogue. “I thought to myself, what would I have done for the American theme if it had not been the Balenciaga look? What’s the most American thing you can think of? And that’s Marilyn Monroe.”
“For me the most Marilyn Monroe moment is when she sang “Happy Birthday,” to JFK, it was that look.”
Fans began to speculate that she would wear the gown in the weeks leading to the Met Gala based on the hints she was giving to the press. She shared, for example, that she had told Access Hollywood that the dress she planned to wear couldn’t be altered or tailored. In other words, it wasn’t just vintage but Super special.
Or, even better, she and her boyfriend Pete Davidson were spotted at the museum in April, so when fans put all the puzzle pieces together, they reasoned that it was probably Monroe’s dress. A loyal fan can’t keep secrets from Monroe!
