In an excerpt from 'Marilyn Monroe 100,' Rachel Syme recounts the history of a dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in 1962 and later by Kim Kardashian at the 2022 Met Gala. The gown, crafted by Hollywood dressmaker Jean Louis, highlights Monroe's enduring fame. Syme explores how Monroe transformed photography into an art form amid constant public scrutiny.
Kim Kardashian wore a historic dress to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Met Gala in May 2022. The sixty-year-old gown, made of delicate beige marquisette fabric and adorned with over six thousand hand-sewn rhinestones, had been worn publicly only once before by Marilyn Monroe. Monroe donned it onstage at Madison Square Garden in May 1962 for President John F. Kennedy's birthday gala. Jean Louis created the dress specifically for Monroe, based on a sketch by designer Bob Mackie early in his career. At the time, Monroe was thirty-five and in her final year of life. Syme notes that Monroe hoped the event would make a statement, but her fame ensured she was always an 'ongoing event,' pursued by cameras, journalists, powerful men, studio executives, fans, and hangers-on. The excerpt emphasizes Monroe's ability to turn being photographed into an art form, cementing her Hollywood legacy from the fifties and sixties.
