Bob Mackie has shared his thoughts on Kim Kardashian wearing the jeweled dress once worn by Marilyn Monroe — and they’re not happy ones.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly earlier this week, the famed designer and costumier said the decision for the Skims founder to wear the dress to the 2022 Met Gala earlier this month was “a big mistake.”
“[Marilyn] was a goddess. A crazy goddess, but a goddess. She was just fabulous,” Mackie told the outlet. “Nobody photographs like that. And it was done for her. It was designed for her. Nobody else should be seen in that dress.”
The jeweled beige gown, created by costume designer Jean Louis and sketched by Mackie, was worn by Monroe when she famously serenaded the former President John F. Kennedy on his 45th birthday in 1962.
Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian at the 2022 Met Gala. Kardashian wore a Jean Louis dress once worn by Marilyn Monroe.
Lexie Moreland/WWD
The dress is valued at more than $10 million and features 6,000 hand-sewn crystals. The sketch was reportedly known to be one of Mackie’s first assignments, working as a sketch artist for Louis at the onset of his career.
Aside from Monroe, Kardashian is the only other person to have ever worn the dress. Ripley’s Believe It or Not! acquired the gown at a Julien’s Auctions event in 2016 and will display the garment in Hollywood for a limited time starting Memorial Day Weekend.
Marilyn Monroe wearing the Jean Louis dress at Madison Square Garden in 1962.
Courtesy of Swarovski
Robert F. Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy in 1962.
Cecil Stoughton/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
Due to the historical significance of the dress, Kardashian only wore the dress for a total of five minutes, changing into it on arrival and up the stairs of the Met before changing into an exact replica to join the other guests inside so as to not damage the dress.
Speaking with La La Anthony at the Met Gala, she confessed she initially did not fit into the dress when she tried it on, so lost 16 pounds in three weeks in order to wear it in time for the event, a statement that has garnered criticism online.
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