Ten days on, and we are *still* talking about Kim Kardashian and her history-making appearance at the Met Gala on Monday, May 2nd, whereby she wore the late Marilyn Monroe’s iconic gold Jean Louis dress. Yes, *the* dress she wore while singing “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy. It was such a huge moment, we think we’ll be talking about it all year!
The 41-year-old SKIMS founder made no secret of how important the dress – which was taken from the Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum – was, and how it had to be handled with the utmost care. And that included not being able to have it altered (hence her having to lose weight in order to wear it!) trying it on with white gloves (yes, really!) and not wearing her traditional body makeup on the red carpet! She really went to any length to make this look happen!
Kim told Vogue: “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. Everything had to be specifically timed and I had to practice walking up the stairs.”
View this post on Instagram
As well as not wearing her signature body makeup (and changing into a replica after only a few minutes on the red carpet) the mom-of-four also didn’t wear a single drop of makeup on her face when trying it on either! Ripley’s shared a video of a makeup-free Kim trying the dress on on social media; and we have to admit, we were pretty shocked at her makeup-free appearance!
Kim can first be seen walking to the dress while wearing some oversized jeans and a simple white tank top, which was tied around the back to draw attention to her petite frame, with her dark hair tied up in a sleek bun and absolutely no makeup on her clear, blemish-free and totally enviable face! The video then shows her wearing white gloves and some nude shapewear, which we assume is from her own SKIMS collection, while a team of people are helping her try the dress on, which after some gentle maneuvering, fit her, much to her surprise and delight!
View this post on Instagram
Ripley’s captioned the video, which was shared to its official Instagram page on May 3rd, one day after the Met Gala: “An emotional moment for @KimKardashian as she tried on the Marilyn Monroe “Happy Birthday” dress for only the second time in history. Great care was taken to preserve this piece of pop culture history. With input from garment conservationists, appraisers, and archivists, the garment’s condition was top priority. Believe It or Not! no alterations were to be made to the dress and Kim even changed into a replica after the red carpet!”
The museum also shared a second video of a makeup-free Kim receiving a silver box that reportedly contained a lock of Marilyn’s platinum blonde hair, which Kim said was “so cool” several times, before joking that it will be “sleeping” with her “every night.”
