Kim Kardashian Wears Marilyn Monroe’s Iconic ‘Happy Birthday, Mr. President’ Dress to Met Gala 2022

Kim Kardashian brought the Old Hollywood glamour to the Met Gala red carpet in spades. In fact, she took a major note from Marilyn Monroe for her look, literally. Vogue reported that Kardashian wore the same exact dress that Monroe donned to sing “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy. 

Ahead of her fashion-forward moment, Kardashian spoke to Vogue about why she wanted to wear the iconic dress to the event. The reality star explained that she got the idea to wear the garment after the last Met Gala, which took place in September. She said that after wearing her meme-able Balenciaga look, she thought about wearing something even more iconic for the American theme, adding, “What’s the most American thing you can think of? And that’s Marilyn Monroe.”

When it comes to Monroe’s career, Kardashian pointed out that one of her most iconic moments was when she sang “Happy Birthday” to JFK in 1962. Kardashian went the extra mile for her look by bleaching her hair platinum blonde, a process that she said took 14 hours. As for how she was able to get ahold of the dress, she recalled, “I’m a big fan of auctions and I own several JFK pieces so I know the owner of Julien’s. He was able to connect me [with Ripley’s] and that’s how the conversation started.” 

Monroe originally spent $1,440 for the custom dress, which was designed by Jean-Louis and based on a sketch from Bob Mackie. The dress was later sold at an auction in 1999 for over $1 million as a part of Monroe’s estate sale with Christie’s. In 2016, it was sold at Julien’s Auctions for $4.8 million and it subsequently became the most expensive dress ever sold at an auction. After being sold at Julien’s Auctions, it was obtained by Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum, where the dress lives in the Orlando, Florida location. 

Kardashian described how she had to adhere to a strict diet and exercise regimen in order to fit into the dress, as it could not be altered. Since the dress is fragile in nature, Kardashian was only able to wear the garment for a few minutes while on the red carpet. She later changed into a replica of the same dress, also owned by Ripley’s, once she climbed the stairs at the Met.