Well, well, well — if it isn’t another chapter in the Kim Kardashian wearing Marilyn Monroe’s dress saga . Did I ever expect that this Met Gala red carpet moment would live on for a month and a half? Absolutely not, but am I here for the drama ? Absolutely YES!
Just a few days after it was revealed that Marilyn’s custom couture gown was ripped after Kim Kardashian wore it, a video showing that the dress had already sustained some damage before it was worn to the Met is going viral.
By now, everyone and their mother has weighed in on Kim Kardashian’s 2022 Met Gala look.
Love it or hate it, it did exactly what any celeb would want it to do — spark conversation. I don’t think most people who have had something to say about this dress even knew it existed until last month.
Did she look beautiful? Of course! Was it problematic when she explained that she essentially starved herself for three weeks to fit into the iconic gown? Absolutely yes!
One of the most scathing reviews of Kim wearing the gown came from legendary fashion designer Bob Mackie.
Bob, best known for designing costumes for big-time celebs like Cher, originally sketched Marilyn’s “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” dress back in 1962.
The 82-year-old was not shy about his thoughts in an interview with Entertainment Weekly , saying he thought the whole ordeal was a “big mistake.”
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“[Marilyn] was a goddess. A crazy goddess, but a goddess,” he told the news outlet.
“She was just fabulous. Nobody photographs like that. And it was done for her. It was designed for her,” Bob added. “Nobody else should be seen in that dress.”
To add insult to injury, photos of the iconic dress went viral earlier this week after seemingly enduring some damage.
In a set of five Instagram posts shared from The Marilyn Monroe Collection, the account pointed out damage in the dress that includes rips along the clasps of the dress and a bunch of missing crystals.
“So much for keeping ‘the integrity of the dress and the preservation’ @ripleysbelieveitornot , was it worth it?” wrote the Marilyn Monroe collection on Instagram alongside photos of before and after the dress was worn by Kim.
Now, Kim Kardashian’s fans are fighting back at the allegations that she damaged the dress by showing rhinestones missing and fabric stretched before the reality star ever wore it.
In a TikTok video posted by @gaymanwithaspraytan, he focuses on the video posted by Ripley’s Believe it Or Not of Kim’s initial fitting.
“The damages were already there before she even put the dress on — or tried to, at least,” he claims.
“This is footage of the dress that Ripley’s shared when Kim went to go visit and try it on for the first time. The rhinestones are missing, the clamps are all messed up, and this isn’t even closed,” they continued.
“So how do we know that the dress didn’t look like this [the ‘after’ photo] when clamped or closed?”
Naturally, the reactions continued to be mixed.
“that’s not the point,” commented one TikTok user. “The dress wasn’t supposed to be worn by anyone but her as per her request. respect the wishes of the dead.”
“so? she damaged it more,” said another.
“If it was already damaged before her, wouldnt Kim have the common sense not to wear it? I mean isn’t there a reason why shes archiving all her clothes?” echoed a different user.
However, Kim’s fans fought back in the comments and went so far as to say no one cared about the dress until the reality star wore it.
“No one cared about the dress before Kim wore it,” said one fan.
“They’ll find any reason to hate on Kim,” said another.
“…but if Kim did this doesn’t that make the dress even more iconic because it does to me,” echoed a different fan.
While there’s no denying the dress was already slightly damaged before, it’s clear the dress underwent further damage after being worn by Kim, and that fact will never change.
