After Kim Kardashian wore Marilyn Monroe’s robe to the Met Gala, designer Bob Mackie slammed the transfer, saying ‘no person else must be seen in that costume.’
Arguably the greatest second of the 2022 Met Gala was Kim Kardashian strolling the purple carpet in the identical Jean Louis robe Marilyn Monroewore when she sang “Completely satisfied Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy in 1962. In line with Bob Mackie, the legendary designer behind among the most memorable seems to be in trend historical past, whoever greenlighted that call must be impeached. “I believed it was an enormous mistake,” Mackie, 82, informed Leisure Weekly. “[Marilyn] was a goddess. A loopy goddess, however a goddess. She was simply fabulous. No one pictures like that. And it was achieved for her. It was designed for her. No one else must be seen in that costume.”
For Mackie, his objections are greater than only a private desire. Early on in his profession, Mackie labored as an assistant to Jean Louis. At age 23, Bob drew the unique sketch for the robe, unaware of the costume’s objective past that it could be an unique piece for Ms. Monroe. Nobody, not even Mackie, knew the costume would turn out to be a part of Marilyn’s most iconic (and notorious) moments in her legacy.
Mackie additionally echoed many historians’ issues that this may set a precedent for celebrities sporting historic clothes for fast viral moments. “There are all the problems with the precise preservation of the costume, and issues like oxygen can have an effect on a costume,” Alicia Malone, who spoke to EW with Mackie as a part of TCM’s upcoming trend on movie sequence, Observe the Thread. “Normally, these outfits are stored very a lot in managed environments, and we see that with the Met. The Costume Institute is so cautious about how they're dealing with these historic objects. So, it was fairly alarming that she was in a position to put on it. I personally want she wore a reproduction as a substitute of the true factor.”
Kim did put on a repro for a lot of the Met Gala. The Kardashians star solely wore the unique costume for the purple carpet, in keeping with Vogue. Kim left her resort in a dressing robe, arrived at a small becoming room by the Met Gala that was arrange for the occasion, and became the $4.8 million costume with assist from a conservationist from Ripley’s Consider It Or Not (the museum loaning Kim the robe.) Kim walked within the costume alongside Pete Davidson, took photographs within the costume, and as soon as she efficiently climbed the steps, she became a reproduction of the costume – one additionally owned by Ripley’s.
“I’m extraordinarily respectful to the costume and what it means to American historical past,” Kim informed Vogue. “I'd by no means need to sit in it or eat in it or have any threat of any harm to it, and I received’t be sporting the sort of physique make-up I often do.”