After images of the dress appearing to be damaged spread across the Internet, people were outraged by the alleged harm done to the historical pop culture memorabilia.
Ripley’s released a statement debunking all rumours and reassured “with confidence” that the dress is still in the same condition it was before the reality TV star donned it.
“Let’s set the record straight: Monroe’s “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” dress was not damaged by Kim Kardashian during the Met Gala,” said the statement by Ripley’s.
Monroe first wore the dress in 1962 to a Madison Square Garden Democratic fundraiser, where she famously sang happy birthday for then US President John F Kennedy.
The dress is currently worth $10 million after being bought by Ripley's for $4.8 million in 2016. It was worn for the first time after 60 years by Kardashian. She admitted to dropping 16 pounds in three weeks for it to fit, a move which also drew ire from the likes of actress Lili Reinhart, for promoting "crash diets".
The statement from the museum also goes on to explain that the reason for the wear and tear had more to do with the age of the dress than Kardashian wearing it.
It cites a previous report from 2017, which said that “a number of the seams are pulled and worn. This is not surprising given how delicate the material is. There is puckering at the back by the hooks and eyes,” among other instances of damage.”
So basically, the museum confirms that the dress does have some tears, but the bottom line is that the damage has got nothing to do with Kardashian wearing it.
Ripley’s VP of Publishing and Licensing, Amanda Joiner stayed with the dress from the moment it was transported from Orlando to New York and even while Kardashian wore it during the Met Gala.
"From the bottom of the Met steps, where Kim got into the dress, to the top where it was returned, the dress was in the same condition it started in,” Joiner said, in the release.
The dress had caused quite the stir earlier in the year, when Kardashian decided to pull up to the exclusive fashion event'sred carpet sporting the famous dress.
Although she only wore it for the red carpet and changed into a replica of the dress for the remainder of the night, people were still concerned about the decision to loan her the famous dress.
The allegations about the damage done to the dress by Kardashian were first sparked earlier this week after an Instagram account by the name of The Marilyn Monroe Collection shared images of the dress, and pointed fingers at Kardashian and the museum.
The original post highlighted tears in the fabric and “missing crystals, [with] some left hanging by a thread,” followed by a caption that tagged Ripley’s and asked, “Was it worth it?”
Ripley’s had a great comeback to the question and said that although Kim Kardashian didn’t pay the museum to wear the dress, she did make a hefty charitable donation to two charities in Orlando on behalf of the museum.
So, we guess it might have been worth it, after all!
