American history and American art should be protected however, often, those seeking fame will do anything for attention.
Kim Kardashian wowed fans when she wore Marilyn Monroe’s famous, crystal-encrusted “Happy Birthday Mr. President” dress to the New York City Met Ball.
However, some things in American culture, like Elvis’s leather jacket, are iconic relics that should never be worn again.
After all, Marilyn was more famous than Kim will ever be.
The 1962 moment when she wore the dress serenading President John F. Kennedy at his birthday was scandalous.
Couple that with Marilyn’s seductive manner toward a very married President who she was rumored to be having an affair with, and you have an iconic America moment.
Three months later Monroe died, but that one-minute performance has been etched in American history.
The dress was designed for Marilyn’s body and it was supposed to give her the appearance of being naked so people were worried when Kardashian worked with Ripley’s – who owns the garment – to wear the dress.
“I’m extremely respectful to the dress and what it means to American history. I would never want to sit in it or eat in it or have any risk of any damage to it, and I won’t be wearing the kind of body makeup I usually do,” Kardashian told Vogue at the time. “Everything had to be specifically timed, and I had to practice walking up the stairs.”
ChadnMichael Morrissette, a visual artist who curates museum and costume exhibits, says he witnessed irreparable damage to the dress when he saw it back on display Sunday at Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
“When you’re dealing with 60-year-old material and fabric and thread and sequins… everything you do damages it. Every time you display it damages it,” he says. “When someone has the audacity to put it on and walk in it up the stairs, you’re so ignorant to the history of that piece of fabric that it makes me so angry.”
“This is the dress we have to look at now for the rest of our history,” he adds. “You literally ruined the most expensive dress in the world, Kim.”
Morrissette posted images of the damage done to the dress.
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