Happy Birthday Mr President: A closer look at Marilyn Monroe's record-breaking dress
Marilyn Monroe, who would have celebrated her 98th birthday on 1 June 2024, remains one of Hollywood’s brightest stars.
Born Norma Jeane Mortenson, the Los Angeles-native actress rose to fame thanks to her "blonde bombshell" characters and was often talked about for her stage presence, private life and game-changing looks.
Celebrated by glossy magazines and vastly imitated by women worldwide, Monroe flaunted a feminine, ever-classic style and some pieces in her wardrobe have defined the history of fashion – and of record breaking.
Among her record-worthy items there's the most expensive breast enhancers sold at auction: unique flesh-coloured foam and cotton bra pads.
The falsies, worn between her bra and sweater to make it appear like the actress wasn't wearing a bra, were sold for $5,000 (£3,149) in Bedford, New Hampshire, USA on 15 April 2000.
However, the stand-out piece is undoubtedly the infamous "Happy Birthday, Mr President" dress: the most expensive dress sold at auction in history.
The hammer fell at Julien’s Auctions on 17 November 2016, when the stunning garment, made of a seamless silk gauze showered in rhinestones, was purchased by Ripley's Believe It or Not! (USA) for $4,800,000 USD (equalling €4,489,000 or £3,857,200).
The sale was initially expected to fetch $3 million, and surpassed expectations when the winning bid surpassed Julien’s Auctions estimate by $1.8 million.
Vastly known as the “Happy Birthday Dress” and forever interlaced with the memory of Monroe’s sensual performance for President J. F. Kennedy, the actress wore the bespoke piece during a Democratic fundraising gala on 19 May 1962.
The event was held in Madison Square Garden, and occurred 10 days before Kennedy’s 45th birthday.
Accompanied by her publicist and by Isidore Miller, Monroe's late entrance at the gala became iconic – and controversial – from the moment she shrugged off her white ermine coat to reveal a crystal-covered, figure-hugging nude sheath dress to a crowd of 15,000 illustrious guests.
The actress's intimate rendition of the traditional "Happy Birthday" song, which instantly became one of the most gossiped-about moments in Hollywood history, occurred only three months before her untimely death on 4 August 1962.
A young Bob Mackie created the original sketch for the gleaming dress, which was then realized by the French-born Hollywood costume designer Jean Louis.
Hollywood royalty by his own right and head designer for Columbia Pictures between the 40s and the 60s, Jean Louis was nominated for 13 Academy Awards and collaborated with Monroe in The Misfits (1961) and the unfinished Something's Got to Give (1962).
Overall, creating the dress costed the designer the whopping amount of $1,440.33 (equivalent to around $11,111 today).
Made of featherlight, flesh-coloured soufflé gauze, the entirety of the gown was adorned by over 2,500 rhinestones masterfully embroidered in a rosette motif.
The barely-there evening sheath dress was apparently so skin-tight that Monroe had to be sewn into it.
The record-breaking dress continued to be at the centre of discussion during the Met Gala 2022, when US celebrity Kim Kardashian stepped on The Metropolitan Museum of Art's red carpet flaunting the show-stopping outfit.
Kardashian, who is reportedly the only other person to ever wear the dress, underwent a dramatic one-night transformation into Hollywood's celebrated bombshell to fit the Met Gala's 2022 theme: America: An Anthology of Fashion.
"What's the most American thing you can think of? And that's Marilyn Monroe," Kardashian explained to Vogue.
Despite the undeniable wow factor of her look, Kim K only wore the vintage garment to walk up the runway and was always under the watchful eyes of a Ripley's Believe It or Not! representative.
She changed into a replica immediately after the red carpet so as not to damage the dress.
It's no surprise, then, that such a piece of history became the most valuable garment of all time.
To make the record even more impressive, the never-seen-before figure achieved by the "Happy Birthday Dress" during the 2016 auction was $200,000 greater than the previous record holder: another iconic Monroe outfit.
Designed by William Travilla and known as “Marilyn’s White Dress”, the dress has a soft, floaty silhouette and is made of cellulose acetate.
The ivory pleated cocktail dress was worn by the actress in The Seven Year Itch and was brought to fame by the famous picture over the subway grate.
Although the playful white costume presents a very different look from the ‘skin and beads’ "Birthday Dress", they both equally represent two of the many facets of the woman who shaped the Golden Age of Hollywood and who, alone, forever changed the cinema industry.
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