Kim Kardashian Wore Marilyn Monroe’s Iconic “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” Dress To The Met Gala

May 3, 2022 / Posted by:

The last thing you want to do when dressing for the Met Gala is set yourself up for a Who Wore it Better situation. Especially if the person who you’re going to be compared to is Marilyn Fucking Monroe, one of the most iconic, oft-imitated and naturally stunning women in Hollywood history. Regardless, since Kim Kardashian believes her own hype, not only did she wear an exact replica of one of Marilyn’s most famous looks, the nude sheath covered in thousands of crystals that she wore to serenade President John F. Kennedy on his birthday in 1962, Kim also, for a hot second, wore the actual dress that Marylin wore on the red carpet. Vogue reports that Kim borrowed the dress from Ripley’s Believe or Not! museum in Florida, which acquired it in 2016 at auction for $4.8 million. It’s an odd place for such an iconic dress to be displayed. If it wasn’t for Ripley’s deep pockets, it might have ended up at The Smithsonian. But now that Kim’s worn it, it truly is worthy of display in Ripley’s Vintage Oddities Collection next to the two-headed calf and the display commemorating The Kentucky Meat Shower of 1876.

So who wore it better? The dress form that’s been wearing it for the past 50 years. Before that, Marilyn wore it better. Kim’s a distant 3rd of 3. Marilyn wore the dress to get the attention of the President she was probably fucking. Kim wore the dress for the attention she is definitely fucking. Kim spent “14 hours straight” having her hair dyed platinum blond for this, which is probably why she couldn’t wear it down and flipped as Marilyn did. The Haunted Mausoleum will not take kindly to Kim’s transformation and will surely manifest some sort of hairy poltergeist when it all falls out this week and slips down the drains. Here’s Kim on the red carpet with her date Pete Davidson.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of Marilyn and Kim.

According to Vogue, Kim had been scheming to get her hands on the dress since September of last year after the last Met Gala. She flew to Florida to try it on a replica, but when the original was flown to Calabasas, it no longer fit. The Haunted Mausoleum strikes again!

Before Ripley’s would agree to loan Kardashian the piece, she was invited to try on a replica for size. It fit perfectly. Soon after, the original dress was winging its way via private plane from Orlando, Florida to Kardashian’s home in Calabasas. And yet somehow the second fitting didn’t quite go as planned. “The dress was transported by guards and I had to wear gloves to try it on,” she explains. “I always thought she was extremely curvy. I imagined I might be smaller in some places where she was bigger and bigger in places where she was smaller. So when it didn’t fit me I wanted to cry because it can’t be altered at all.”

With only a few months to go before the gala, there were only two choices: slim down to fit into the dress or find something else to wear. In her mind, there was only one real option. “It was this or nothing,” she says flatly. In the weeks that followed, Kardashian would adhere to a strict diet to get closer to her goal. “I 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,” she explains. “I didn’t starve myself, but I was so strict.” A month later, she was inside the Ripley’s vaults in Orlando for the final fitting. This time around, the dress fit like a glove. “I wanted to cry tears of joy when it went up,” she says.

The New York Post says Kim lost 16 pounds in order to cram her hams and yams where Marilyn’s beef wellingtons and pert little ataulfo mangoes once rested. And according to Ripley’s, MM wasn’t wearing any pannies, let alone shapewear.

The unlined gown did not allow for Monroe to wear any undergarments, and its color perfectly matched her skin tone. The thousands of rhinestones on the dress were strategically placed to cover her body and twinkle under the stage lights. It was purposefully made to look barely there and was designed to shock. Reportedly, Monroe was stitched into the dress just seconds before her appearance and missed her curtain call twice!

Here’s Kim’s moment of truth while trying the actual dress for the first time.

While it’s no Kentucky meat shower, the dress “will be on display at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Hollywood for a limited time beginning Memorial Day weekend.” Here’s the rest of the Kardashian Krew enjoying a 100% Kanye Westless Met Gala featuring Kylie Jenner as The Bride of Poochie, Kris Jenner as mother of The Bride of Poochie (or Jackie O, to some), Kendall Jenner as goth funeral casket lining, Khloe Kardashian as Big Foot’s lower half and Travis Barker and  Kourtney Kardashian as Mr. & Mrs. Phantom Threads.

Pics: INSTARImages
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