The Met Gala or Met Ball is an annual fundraising event held to raise funds for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in New York City. It's one of the biggest nights of the year for fashion as the A List flock to the venue decked in their finest attire, ready to be photographed and represent the very best in fashion design.
But one guest in particular, reality TV star Kim Kardashian, has caused as a stir for her choice of outfit at this year's event after choosing to wear an iconic and historic dress, kept usually in Ripley's Believe it Or Not Museum in Orlando, Florida.
French-born Hollywood costume designer Jean-Louis created the dress for Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe, who wore it when she sang 'Happy Birthday' to President John F Kennedy on his 45th birthday in 1962.
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People were quick to comment on Twitter. No doubt Kardashian looked stunning in the piece but is it right that she's worn such an iconic piece of fashion memorabilia? One tweet said: "That dress should have stayed a one woman dress. There's no comparison between Marilyn and Kim. Desecration, frankly. Cringing. History of the dress is now ruined. Money buys everything, but couldn't buy Marilyn's charismatic beauty in that dress on that night in history."
Another commented on Twitter: "It had Marilyn Monroe's dna practically, now it's lost from the moment you put it on, could you just have ordered an identical one but the original?!! That's playing with history. How awful. Clearly money does anything. sometimes for bad."
But some enjoyed seeing the dress out of a cabinet and back in the spotlight with one tweet saying: "Screw the haters Kim. You looked so beautiful in it that I started crying. I am so happy that you got to wear it. You are our modern day Marilyn Monroe."
Kardashian told Vogue how the idea came about saying: “The idea really came to me after the gala in September last year. I thought to myself, what would I have done for the American theme if it had not been the Balenciaga look? What’s the most American thing you can think of? And that’s Marilyn Monroe.”
Monroe is said to have paid Jean-Louis $1440 for the dress, which was first sold at auction in 1999 for more than $1m and then sold again for $4.8 million at Julien’s Auctions in 2016. It was later acquired by Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum and to this day, it holds the record for being the most expensive dress sold at auction.
