Viral pictures reveal the severe damage done to the iconic Marilyn Monroe dress that billionaire Kim Kardashian loaned to wear at the Met Gala – Some crystals are hanging by a thread and many are missing.

Via Instagram / @kimkardashian's Via Instagram / @marilynmonroecollection


Kim Kardashian created headlines with her choice of outfit for the recently held 2022 Met Gala. And she’s doing it again! However, this time it is for the apparent damage that she caused to the iconic dress, as is revealed in photographs all over the internet.

Via Instagram / @diet_prada

The gold “Happy Birthday” dress, valued at nearly $5 million, was loaned after the beauty moguls’ request. She was the first to wear the gown since 1962, and the decision alone had received a fair bit of backlash then.


Now, @popcrave has posted side-by-side photos of the dress before and after Kim wore it on Twitter, showing some stretched/ripped fabric and missing beads. As expected, the internet went berserk looking at the pictures, with some commenting as follows:

Via Instagram / @marilynmonroecollection

“This dress is a piece of my life and my heart. To see what @kimkardashian did in the damaging of it is heartbreaking,” Creative director Chad Michael Christian Morrisette commented, while another Twitter user-added,

“Marilyn has used all her life; she hardly had anything that was truly her own. This dress, it was hers. It was designed specifically and ONLY for her. Now it’s ruined.” Ripley (who loaned the dress), as well as Kim, had defended their stand earlier, with the former saying: “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 a 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!⁠”

Similarly, Kim K noted, “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.”

Both Ripley and Kim, however, have remained unavailable for comment post the pictures revealing the damage. Any thoughts on this mega blunder?

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A lawyer with a zeal for writing, Ekta has a deep love for linguistics, travel, and philosophy. Not an adrenalin junkie but likes going on occasional hikes to beat the weekday blues. Her bucket list includes escapades to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Morocco.