Kim Kardashian Won the Met Gala in Marilyn Monroe's Iconic Naked Dress, Period
When rumours began swirling on TikTok and Twitter about Kim Kardashian's look for the 2022 Met Gala a few days ago, we wouldn't—couldn't—let ourselves get excited. After all, the thought that anyone, even someone as powerful in the fashion world as Kim Kardashian, could pull Marilyn Monroe's iconic naked dress out from the archives was simply too far-fetched for us to take seriously. And yet, after much speculation, that's exactly what the Kardashians star did. "What's the most American thing you can think of? And that's Marilyn Monroe,” she told Vogue.
The dress, which Monroe wore to sing "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" to President John F. Kennedy at his 45th birthday party in 1962, was based on a sketch by Bob Mackie for the Hollywood costume designer Jean Louis. Almost completely sheer and covered in thousands of twinkling crystals, it is widely considered to be the very first naked dress, which, at the time, was far more controversial than it is today. It was so contentious, in fact, that it went down in American history, making it the perfect choice for an event centered around American fashion.
See how Kim Kardashian brought Marilyn Monroe's 1962 naked dress into 2022 below.
WHO: Kim Kardashian
WEAR: Jean Louis
See Marilyn Monroe in the dress in 1962:
Next up: Every Breathtaking Red Carpet Look From the 2022 Met Gala
Eliza Huber is a New York City–based fashion editor who specializes in trend reporting, brand discovery, and celebrity style. She joined Who What Wear in 2021 after almost four years on the fashion editorial team at Refinery29, the job she took after graduating with a marketing degree from the University of Iowa. She has since launched two monthly columns, Let's Get a Room and Ways to Wear; profiled the likes of Dakota Fanning, Diane Kruger, Katie Holmes, and Sabrina Carpenter for WWW's monthly cover features; and reported on everything from the relationship between Formula One and fashion to the top trends from fashion month, season after season. Eliza now lives on the Upper West Side and spends her free time researching F1 fashion imagery for her side Instagram accounts @thepinnacleoffashion and @f1paddockfits, running in Central Park, and scouring eBay for '90s Prada and '80s Yves Saint Laurent.
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