Kim Kardashian has revealed her secrets of how she managed to wear Marilyn Monroe's iconic gown from 1962 to the Met Gala in New York on Monday night.
The television personality, 41, went to extreme lengths to fit into the show-stopping crystal dress, which was on loan to her from the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum.
Speaking on the red carpet, Kim said preparations to wear the dress included crash dieting to lose 16lbs in three weeks and how when she first tried it on the museum sent 'armed guards and gloves'.
The gown was worn by Monroe during her famous 1962 performance of Happy Birthday to US president John F Kennedy.
It made history when it became the most expensive dress sold at audition in 2016 in a $4.8 million sale.
The dress is adorned with more than 6,000 crystals, hand-sewn by costumier Jean Louis.
Kim revealed she lost 16 pounds to fit into the gown and spent 14 hours dyeing her hair platinum blonde to match Marilyn's.
"I had this idea to try it on and then they came with armed guards and gloves," she told Vogue on the event’s red carpet.
"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.
"I tried it on and it didn’t fit me. I said, 'Give me three weeks.' I had to lose 16 pounds."
Kim said to help achieve this she would wear a sauna suit twice a day, run on the treadmill and completely cut out all sugar and all carbs for three weeks.
The reality star said she lived off the 'cleanest veggies and protein' as she was determined to fit it but found it really 'challenging'.
Due to the history of the dress, Kim only wore it for a few minutes on the red carpet before changing into a replica once she made it up the museum's stairs.
After leaving her hotel in a dressing gown surrounded by security she arrived at a small fitting room with a conservationist from Ripley's museum on hand with white gloves.
The reality star acknowledged the history of the dress and said couldn't have risked sitting or eating in it or wearing her usual body make-up.
Kim said she had to practice walking up the stairs and everything had to be 'perfectly timed' to ensure the dress remained in tip top condition.
Sharing pictures of the gown on Instagram, Kim wrote: "I am so honoured to be wearing the iconic dress that Marilyn Monroe wore in 1962 to sing Happy Birthday to President John F Kennedy.
"It is a stunning skin-tight gown adorned with more than 6,000 hand-sewn crystals by costumier Jean Louis.
“Thank you Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for giving me the opportunity to debut this evocative piece of fashion history for the first time since the late Marilyn Monroe wore it.
“I am forever grateful for this moment.”
