NEW YORK — She said “wreck” to the dress.
At least, that’s one collector’s interpretation of what Kim Kardashian did to the iconic gown in which Marilyn Monroe serenaded President John F. Kennedy when the reality star donned it for the Met Gala red carpet last month.
Collector Kevin Fortner, an expert who authenticates and verifies memorabilia connected to Monroe, posted Instagram photos Monday appearing to show that the back fabric had stretched and buckled around the zipper, and that crystals were missing.
Kardashian had made a grand entrance as the last to arrive at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Met Gala, shimmering and shimmying her way up the red carpet clad in the same nude-silk, rhinestone-studded number that Monroe had worn at Madison Square Garden when she sang happy birthday to JFK for his 45th.
The reality star had gone on a crash diet to lose 16 pounds to even slide it over her own curves, and it barely zipped, which prompted her to wear a stole, according to The Guardian. She also dyed her hair blonde.
“It was like a role,” she told a friend. “I was determined to do it.”
Fortner is not the first to come down on her for what has been termed a fashion faux pas, but it’s the first documented alleged evidence that perhaps it should never have happened.
At the time, dress owner Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! insisted that “great care was taken to preserve this piece of pop culture history” and noted that Kardashian had only worn the original Jean-Louis gown with its 2,500 rhinestone crystals on the red carpet, changing into a replica for the rest of the festivities.
Fortner, whose handle is Marilyn Monroe Collection, posted a photo of the dress back on its right-sized mannequin showing the damaged back of the dress on display Sunday at Ripley’s Hollywood location.
“So much for keeping ‘the integrity of the dress and the preservation,’" Fortner wrote, tagging Ripley’s and adding, “Was it worth it?”
The site Pop Crave tweeted a before-and-after shot of the gown that another commentator said had been “edited to death” in the “before” version, and thus did not in fact show extra wear and tear.
Ripley’s had not commented publicly as of Tuesday afternoon after attempts to reach them.
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