Kim Kardashian spurred some Internet ire when she wore Marilyn Monroe’s dress to the 2022 Met Gala, especially after it was revealed that she couldn’t really fit in the invaluable dress in the first place. Now, it looks like those concerns may have been warranted, because the iconic garment appears to be damaged following the event.
The Marilyn Monroe Collection posted before-and-after photos of Monroe’s dress, a Jean Louis design that she wore while singing “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy in 1962, to Instagram. In the photo taken after Kardashian’s May 2nd Met Gala appearance, the back zipper appears stretched and crystals are missing from the garment, leaving only loose thread behind. “So much for keeping ‘the integrity of the dress,’” the account captioned the post.
Monroe’s dress was acquired from Julien’s Auctions by Ripley’s in 2016 for a record-setting $4.8 million, and the company promised that “Great care was taken to preserve this piece of pop culture history.” Kardashian was never left alone with the dress, and she only wore it for a few minutes on the red carpet before changing into a replica. Still, many criticized her decision to go forward with the outfit after she revealed that she lost 16 pounds just to fit into it. What’s more, a viral video of the star’s first fitting shows her team struggling to fit the piece over her bottom half, which she ultimately covered with a fur wrap.
Check out images of the iconic dress below. In other Kardashian news, the star continues to make headlines with her unforeseen new boyfriend, Pete Davidson.