Bob Mackie says Kim Kardashian wearing Marilyn Monroe's gown to Met Gala was a 'big mistake'
"It was designed for her. Nobody else should be seen in that dress," the famed designer who drew the original sketch for star's 1962 Jean Louis gown, tells EW.
Big mistake. Huge.
When Kim Kardashian hit the Met Gala red carpet wearing Marilyn Monroe's original 1962 Jean Louis gown, in which Monroe famously sang "Happy Birthday" to President John F. Kennedy, it provoked a polarizing response.
While some celebrated Kardashian for her nod to the icon, others worried about the implications of her wearing the real gown. Costume historians and conservationists decried the unfortunate precedent it would set and the potential damage it could cause.
Another person who didn't love Kardashian's choices? Fashion designer Bob Mackie, who drew the sketch for the original gown in his early career working as an assistant to Jean Louis. "I thought it was a big mistake," Mackie tells EW, while previewing the new Turner Classic Movies' fashion on film series Follow the Thread. "[Marilyn] was a goddess. A crazy goddess, but a goddess. She was just fabulous. Nobody photographs like that. And it was done for her. It was designed for her. Nobody else should be seen in that dress."
Mackie also echoes historians' concerns that wearing the gown was undoubtably damaging to its preservation and structural integrity. He was only 23 when he did the sketch for the gown under the direction of Louis, not even knowing what the dress was for besides an original design for Marilyn Monroe to wear.
TCM host Alicia Malone, who spoke with Mackie as part of the network's forthcoming Follow the Thread series and can be seen on CNN's Reframed: Marilyn Monroe, also raises concerns for the impact on the gown. "There are all the issues with the actual preservation of the dress and things like oxygen can affect a dress," she explains. "Usually, these outfits are kept very much in controlled environments and we see that with the Met. The Costume Institute is so careful about how they are handling these historic items. So, it was quite alarming that she was able to wear it. I personally wish she wore a replica instead of the real thing."
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