The Met Gala is the biggest event of the year when it comes to fashion. Celebrities make their way down the famous carpet, showcasing their outfits and interpretation of the theme. Many looks go viral. Perhaps one of the most memorable moments came in 2022, when Kim Kardashian wore Marilyn Monroe’s iconic 1962 dress - the one she famously wore while singing “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” to President John F. Kennedy.
Kim's look came with harsh criticism, with people upset that Ripley's Believe It Or Not let her wear the gown. There were rumors that she permanently damaged it, which the museum later denied. Three years later, the 45-year-old revealed her one regret about the look - going blonde.
Kim and hairstylist Chris Appleton dyed her real hair, and the internet was not kind about how it came out, with people saying it looked fried. In a post-credit interview on a recent episode of The Kardashians, Kim revealed that she wishes she had gone brunette. “I don’t know why, but everyone told me, ‘Don’t do Marilyn hair, you’re going to look like a wax figure of Marilyn,’” she said. “We just thought we wanted to be blond. I should have been like dark, Jackie O vibes hair.”
The reality star has even photoshopped it “500 different ways” to see how she could have looked. “I have tortured Chris Appleton on this decision,” she admitted.
“Should it have been a Marilyn vibe hair in blond?” she asked, showing some of the images. “Should it have been more of a Jackie O dark? Either one of these would have worked.”
Kim committed to the look, not only going blonde but also losing 16 pounds in three weeks so that she could fit inside of it. "The dress was transported by guards, and I had to wear gloves to try it on," she told Vogue. "I always thought she was extremely curvy. I imagined I might be smaller in some places where she was bigger and bigger in places where she was smaller. So when it didn't fit me, I wanted to cry because it can't be altered at all."
It was so form-fitting that Monroe had to be sewn into it for the performance, which started the rumor that she did it so nobody else could ever wear it. "When I went to put it on, it wouldn't even go on over my hips, and I was just, like, devastated," she told her sisters in an old episode.
"I'm gonna do every last thing that I can to try to make this happen," Kim said. "It's gonna be really hard. I'm gonna have to eat so clean and so perfect and cut out sugar, which is so hard for me."
Committed, she was able to fit the dress, which she said she wore only to go up the stairs with her ex, Pete Davidson, before changing into a replica. "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," Kardashian told the outlet. "Everything had to be specifically timed, and I had to practice walking up the stairs."