The Kim K Met Gala Dress You Didn't See
It was another iconic Marilyn Monroe gown.
No matter how you feel about it, Kim Kardashian’s Marilyn Monroe moment at the 2022 Met Gala will go down in fashion history. It didn’t matter that Monroe’s “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” dress didn’t fit the businesswoman’s specific proportions because it couldn’t be altered, nor did it matter that the star of Hulu’s The Kardashians only wore Monroe’s OG gown briefly, reportedly changing into a replica once she stepped off the Met Gala red carpet. What mattered was the moment — and Kardashian kept that moment going. The SKIMS mogul continued to channel Monroe at the Met Gala afterparty in the same gown the Gentlemen Prefer Blondes star wore to the 1962 Golden Globes.
Say what you will about the historical preservation of fashion, but Kim K commits to a bit. The throwback ‘fit extends beyond the Norman Norell gown — which Kardashian found via a luxury antique auction house, according to her Instagram post caption — to the Golden Globe statuette Kardashian was seen posing with. As luck would have it, Jeff Leatham, a personal friend of Kardashian’s, owned the Golden Globe Monroe received in 1962 for World Film Favorite, and was happy to lend it to her for fashion’s biggest night.
While some folks were quick to point out that it seemed in poor taste or even sacrilegious for Kardashian to wear Monroe’s sartorial pieces of history, there are a few things to consider. Both Kardashian and Monroe had their lives, relationships, and bodies examined under a microscope. Their femininity and self-expression changed generations and, not for nothing, Kardashian seems to understand what a monumental blessing it is to share garments worn by an American icon.
Case in point, the way Kardashian described the experience of wearing Monroe’s Golden Globes gown while holding the icon’s Golden Globes trophy. “It will forever be one of the greatest privileges of my life to be able to channel my inner Marilyn in this way,” she wrote of the night. It certainly seems that Kardashian’s love of Monroe’s style runs deep and the reality star sought to highlight Monroe’s legacy as a fashion icon. Well played, Kim K.
