Strong Opinion
Kim Kardashian Did or Did Not Ruin the Marilyn Monroe Dress, Whatever
Marilyn Monroe's iconic dress became Kim Kardashian’s props to get more social media mileage
Met Gala 2022: Celebrities, Red Carpet, Theme & More — Vogue
Every year celebrities, politicians, and social media influencers — when did that start to happen, grace what is the biggest fashion event year after year.
And with the Iron Lady of Fashion or ‘the Devil wears Prada’ herself as the final arbiter of who gets invited or not, Anna Wintour to this day remains the most powerful woman in the fashion world.
Love her or hate her. She gets things done and the Met Gala continues to be one of the biggest charity events in fashion and New York. It helped the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute raise $200 million in 2019.
Again, love her or hate her, Anna Wintour delivers the moolah!
Kim Kardashian at the Met Gala 2022
Did you know for years none of the Kardashians were invited to the Met Gala, that only changed when Kim Kardashian became Kanye West’s plus one in 2013 when she famously wore a Givenchy? And if she hadn’t been with Kanye, it would take more than her being famous to get invited.
“I was crying, like, the whole way home because I just couldn’t believe it. There were all these memes about me and this couch,” she recalled. — HarpersBazaar
You couldn’t buy your way in, even if you beg Anna Wintour.
Since then Kim Kardashian has been a regular fixture at the Met Gala, and she would always try to top whatever she wore the previous year.
And in 2022, she did the unthinkable, she wore the iconic Marilyn Monroe dress.
I am so honored to be wearing the iconic dress that Marilyn Monroe wore in 1962 to sing “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy. It is a stunning skintight gown adorned with more than 6,000 hand-sewn crystals by costumier Jean Louis.
Thank you Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for giving me the opportunity to debut this evocative piece of fashion history for the first time since the late Marilyn Monroe wore it. I am forever grateful for this moment. ✨🕊 — Kim Kardashian’s Instagram post.
And why would she do that? IMHO it’s for more social media mileage. She doesn’t need it, but if there is one thing Kim Kardashian is good about it is being famous, and staying famous.
The Marilyn Monroe dress — A piece of art or history?
On May 19, 1962, Marilyn Monroe sang Happy Birthday to President John F. Kennedy, in her iconic dress, the dress that will make Marilyn Monroe a pop culture icon.
We would always associate the dress with the Happy birthday song, both President JFK and Marilyn Monroe would soon be dead after that historic night.
After 60 years, the dress would be worn by Kim Kardashian, not for art or history but as props.
She knew she would be the star of the Met Gala 2022. And not only did she know it would spark controversy, her wearing the Marilyn Monroe dress would be too polarizing that she can rest on her laurels and have a few days off to think of what was next for her and the Kardashian empire.
That is the problem with being social media famous, you can’t stop or you refuse to stop, you need to feed the algorithm.
Even if Kim Kardashian is already a billionaire, her success goes beyond their TV show, she can’t stop, she needs to work as she claimed in a Variety interview.
She again took that opportunity not only to promote her new TV show but to berate women in business by saying what she believes is good advice.—
“I have the best advice for women in business,” “Get your f — — — ass up and work. It seems like nobody wants to work these days.” — Kardashian told Variety.
And soon after her controversial statement, we found out that Kim and her family hire people for almost nothing and that one of her former assistants eats 99-cent meals to survive.
Should Kim Kardashian have worn the Marilyn Monroe dress?
Big mistake, huge.
The legendary Bob McKie thinks so. He was the one who sketched the iconic dress, he believes that no one should ever wear that dress, it was for Marilyn, she is more than a star, she is a legend.
“I thought it was a big mistake,” Mackie tells EW, while previewing the new Turner Classic Movies’ fashion on film series Follow the Thread. “[Marilyn] was a goddess. A crazy goddess, but a goddess. She was just fabulous. Nobody photographs like that. And it was done for her. It was designed for her. Nobody else should be seen in that dress.”
And while Kim Kardashian is a celebrity, she will never be Marilyn Monroe, the only reason Ripley’s which now owns the dress allowed her to wear the dress is because of her social media clout.
Kim Kardashian did not damage Marilyn Monroe’s dress, according to Ripley’s — CNN reports
But Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! issued this statement through CNN
According to Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!, which owns Monroe’s gown and lent it to Kardashian for the Met Gala, despite claims to the contrary, the museum and events franchise said in a statement Thursday that Kardashian “did not, in any way, damage the garment in the short amount of time it was worn at the Met Gala.” — CNN reports.
Added that when they first bought it in an auction in 2016, “a number of the seams pulled and worn’’ and “puckering at the back by the hooks and eyes.”
If the company that owns the dress says they are OK with what happened to the dress after it was returned, there is very little we can do but take their word for it.
It’s their dress now, even if that sounds very sad.
Final words
What’s next for Kim Kardashian?
Oh, Don’t worry the next one has arrived, her marriage to Kanye West and her sex life with Pete Davidson.
Kim Kardashian revealed that for her to wear the iconic Marilyn Monroe dress she had to lose 16 pounds in three weeks.
And that too she got a lot of flak.
Let me end by answering a question that is on your mind.
Kim Kardashian did she or did she not ruin the Marilyn Monroe dress?
My answer is,
Whatever!
Kim Kardashian wants us to feed the social media algorithm, and every time we do, it’s dollars and cents for her.
Thank you for reading.
Sources:
Kim Kardashian’s Met Gala Marilyn moment shows how good she is at her job: being famous
Kim Kardashian did not damage Marilyn Monroe’s dress, according to Ripley’s
Kim Kardashian Is Facing Backlash For “Ruining” Marilyn Monroe’s Dress
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