Kim wore one of the most iconic and valuable dresses in history to the Met Gala, and here’s why it makes perfect sense

Ten years ago, fashion folklore had it that Anna Wintour had sworn that Kim Kardashian would. never be invited to the Met Gala, citing concerns that her reality star status would tone down fashion’s most prestigious night.

However, against all odds in 2013, she got involved on a technicality: she came out as the escort for her boyfriend at the time, Kanye West.

At the end of last month, when the anticipation for the first Monday in May began to rise, whispers swirled that Kim had her eye firmly on a piece of Hollywood history: the same dress Marilyn Monroe wore in 1962 when she sang “Happy Birthday” to then-President John F. Kennedy.

Although the Met is no stranger to multi-million dollar gowns, Marilyn’s dress would undoubtedly go down in the history books as one of the most valuable and iconic looks to ever grace the carpet, and was worn by a woman who was supposedly banned from attending once. not less.

And so expectations were high last night when a bleached-blonde Kim stepped onto the carpet in the highly coveted last spot, swathed in Marilyn’s sparkly gown.

The dress, which Kim paired with a white fur coat and her new boyfriend, Pete Davidson, was based on a sketch by Bob Mackie for French Hollywood costume designer Jean-Louis, its sheerness reportedly caused quite a stir when Marilyn donned the risqué look 60 years ago.

“Nowadays everyone wears see-through dresses, but back then that wasn’t the case,” Kim said. Fashion before the big night. “In a sense, it’s the original nude dress. That’s why it was so shocking.”

Speaking of how his look lives up to this year’s white tie. theme – based on display In America: An Anthology of Fashion and focusing on “golden glamour”: Kim told the magazine that there is nothing more glamorous or all-American than Marilyn.

“The idea really came to me after the gala in September last year. I thought to myself, what would I have done for the American theme if it hadn’t been the Balenciaga look? What’s the most American thing you can think of? And that’s Marilyn Monroe,” she said.

“For me, the most Marilyn Monroe moment is when she sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to JFK, it was that look,” he continued.

Kim was able to borrow the $4.8 million piece from Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum in Orlando, where it’s usually kept in a dark, temperature-controlled vault, which makes a lot of sense, given that it holds the record for being the most expensive dress ever sold at auction.

And while securing the garment may have been easy, actually getting into it turned out to be much more challenging.

“I always thought I was extremely curvy,” Kim saying of Marilyn Monroe before the big night. “I figured she could be smaller in places where she was bigger and bigger in places where she was smaller. So when she didn’t fit me, I wanted to cry because she can’t be changed at all.”

As the clock ticked down, Kim said she had no choice but to take desperate measures. embark on a restrictive diet and exercise regimen for three weeks to make it work.

“I wanted to cry tears of joy when he went up,” he added.

The dress was so valuable, in fact, that Kim actually only ended up wearing it for “a matter of minutes,” transforming into a replica immediately after leaving the red carpet.

“I am extremely respectful of the dress and what it means to American history,” Kim said.

“I would never want to sit on it or eat on it or risk damaging it and I won’t wear the kind of body make-up I usually wear,” he added, before explaining that he had to practice climbing. the iconic staircase of the Museum.

But like so much of what Kim and her family do, the key moment was instantly divisive, less the dress itself than the woman honored to wear it.

Having historically been framed as someone who achieved celebrity status simply by “being famous,” it was no surprise that Kim’s lack of traditional Hollywood credentials made it difficult for some people to fully embrace the moment.

However, on a deeper look, many others were quick to point out that Kim and Marilyn have more in common than just their hourglass figures.

writer and creator Daniel Preda addressed the criticism head-on on Twitter, first writing that though their paths differed wildly, Kim and Marilyn faced and overcame similar misogynistic criticism on their journey to becoming cultural icons.

In a subsequent tweet, he suggested that Kim’s unlikely transition from tabloid to celebrity royalty echoes, but doesn’t match, Marilyn’s. rough ride from austerity to becoming a sex symbol and movie star.

“It makes a lot of sense in 2022 why Kim K would be the one to wear this dress,” she added.

While Kim certainly didn’t face the same struggles as Marilyn, nor did she come out of “nowhere,” their trajectories to becoming two of the most famous women in popular culture incorporate a number of common threads, fighting back against harsh criticism to embrace and capitalize on it. her sexuality.

And with this in mind, putting Kim, arguably one of the most famous and divisive figures alive, in the Marilyn dress makes sense. And whether we choose to believe it or not, the passionate discourse and views on both sides speak directly to both women’s ascendancy in pop culture.