Ripley’s cleared the air of any allegations of damage to Marilyn Monroe’s dress by Kim Kardashian at 2022’S MET Gala. The famous dress was worn by Marilyn Monroe in 1962 to President John F. Kennedy’s birthday event.
An immense amount of controversy was generated after it was brought to attention globally that Kim Kardashian’s attempt of fitting into the iconic ‘Happy Birthday’ gown of Marilyn Monroe and wearing the dress at this year’s MET Gala may have caused indelible damage to the delicate fabric in the form of wear and tear signs visible at various places of the gown and loss of precious rhinestones.
Some photographs have newly emerged which were posted by Scott Fortner, a collector of the Marilyn Monroe Collection deemed as the world’s largest collection of personal property and archives of Marilyn Monroe. He enlightened that the gown, which has been currently on display at the Ripley’s, shows signs of tears on the backside of the gown. He also highlighted that some sequins and rhinestone crystals were also missing.
When compared with its display images from the year 2016, the differences are marked as more prominent and damaged deep. Fortner has posted several before-and-after images of the gown on his official Instagram handle. He reprimanded Ripley’s asking the organization whether it was ” worth it “ and was successful in maintaining “the integrity of the gown” and its preservation?
It was posted in reference to the press release made by Ripley’s on 2nd May 2022, which stated the following: “Great care was taken to preserve this piece of pop culture history. With input from garment conservationists, appraisers, and archivists, the garment’s condition was top priority. Believe It or Not! No alterations were to be made to the dress and Kim even changed into a replica after the red carpet!”
Ripley’s recently addressed the issue by explaining vai an article that has been published on its website on Thursday, ensuring that no damage has been caused to the famed Jean Louis gown made exclusively for Marilyn Monroe in 1962.
