Met Gala 2022: celebs fumbled the easiest theme ever 

Wow, I didn't think there would be this much interest in the comments about Kim K's dress. I decided to do a little more digging after reading some opinions on it, and came across this wonderful Twitter thread by fashion historian Dr. Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell. She talks about the ethics of wearing museum pieces in very digestible detail with other examples as well: twitter.com/HottyCouture/status/1522257911933591562 I thought I'd share for anyone interested in reading further!

"When Marilyn knew she'd be performing at President John F. Kennedy's birthday gala she contacted Louis and said, 'I want you to design a truly historical dress, a dazzling dress that's one of a kind.' She asked that it be a dress that, 'only Marilyn Monroe could wear,' " sounds to me like Marilyn most certainly would NOT have wanted someone else wearing that gown. That gown was conceived, designed, measured and created for one person and that person was Marilyn Monroe. It should never have been worn by anyone else.

One of by biggest issues with them letting Kim wear Marylin’s dress (aside from the obvious mishandling of the historical dress) is that the reason they let her wear the dress is because they kept saying that “Kim is the modern day Marilyn” which disregards EVERYTHING about Marylin: what she did for civil rights, how she was born into poverty, and how she was treated by the film industry. They just degrade her to how Hollywood saw her: a sex symbol and nothing more

Marilyn literally stated she never wanted anyone else to wear the dress. The dress itself was made for Marilyn, she was sewn into the dress when she wore it. People get upset over her wearing this dress because of the ICONIC significance of it. This dress is part of American history, as is Marilyn. Kim is not even in the same league. Wearing it even five minutes damages the integrity of the dress. Debbie Reynolds was known as the Historian of Hollywood Costumes, she worked so hard to preserve these beautiful gowns. You mentioned Worth gowns, to me the history behind those gowns, the age should keep people from wearing them. It is so sad that there are rules set up about wearing museum pieces and that was not adhered to in this case. It just left a really bad taste in people's mouths.

Completely disagree about Kim. That was Marilyn Monroe's dress, it's a historical piece meant to be preserved. I don't care if it was 5 minutes, you shouldn't be able to take historical pieces out of a museum because you flash enough money.

To be fair I don’t think anyone should be wearing Marilyn’s dress. Not just for conservation but because I think it contributes to the dehumanized narrative around her, Marilyn wasn’t “the most American thing” she was a person

They literally could have just re made Marilyn’s dress. It’s a historical artifact, literally anything can ruin the preservation of it.

The met gala could literally have a theme for example like “orange” and I can assure you that almost everyone or at least 80% of them will show up in blue and would then go on to saying “I wanted to be edgy.” Or make up some argument that blue is somehow related orange. Or just say “I don’t care for the theme.” Which like, why have a theme if you are not going to follow it.

18:06 The biggest issue now is that there is photographic proof that Kim irreparably damaged Marilyn’s dress. Multiple Swarovski beads and sequins were lost because they fell off during the fittings/red carpet, there was tearing and shredding near the hooks, the shoulder straps have been stretched out, there are multiple pulled seams; there’s also puckering around the zipper and the zipper itself was damaged. Bob Mackie himself has also went on record to emphatically state that the only person meant to wear that dress was Marilyn Monroe and that letting Kim wear it was “a big mistake.” There is no way to repair the dress, either. Kim has legitimately destroyed a huge piece of fashion history for no other reason than her egoism and privilege, on top of keeping a lock of her hair and joking about doing a “voodoo ritual” with it. I don’t agree with the people who used Kim wearing the dress to attack and degrade Kim as a woman, but I think it’s also off the mark to say people were overreacting. We can now see why some of those reactions were incredibly justified because of the state of the dress itself.

i feel like if the designers were gonna straight up ignore the theme they could've at least made the outfits look nice 😂

The only take I don't agree with you is the Marilyn Monroe dress, she didn't want anyone to wear it. I'm not even a Marilyn fan but she had to be sown into the dress because it was perfectly fitted for her body, the colour was perfectly matched to her skin tone so that it would appear like she's naked and dripping in jewels. I don't care if Kim compares herself to Marilyn but she did this for her own vanity and not to pay homage. Also don't like that she starved herself to fit in it.

The Marilyn dress thing is not out of proportion. Museums have strict codes of conduct prohibiting EVER wearing the clothes. The amount of damage done to the dress is irreversible and for what?

In defense of Vanessa Hudgens, she combined Western Gilded Age and Philippines 1800 era to pay homage to her filipino roots, the intricate design on her chest was an inspiration of weaves usually worn by filipino women back in the era and the mini puffed sleeves was an inspiration from Filipiniana (National Costume). So overall her outfit was on theme.

the met gala is hilarious because it’s when celebrities are supposed to actually follow the theme and impress us and they have consistently failed for at that since 2018.

The problem with Kim wearing Marilyn Monroes dress is that the historical value of this dress is that Marilyn was the last one to wear it, historical artifacts deserve to be protected.

So obviously, there was like a team of professional people who were not gonna let this dress get ruined"... but the dress DID get ruined!

Considering the Gilded Age was built off the backs of the poor, working, and immigrant classes, the Nouveau-Riche would have had nothing if not for them. How else could the Glided Age have been so glided!?! Kudos to Riz Ahmed.

As a museum professional, on the topic of the Marilyn Monroe dress, the museum and conservation community is up in arms about the the loaning of the dress to be physically worn. It is a delicate piece of material culture that absolutely should not have been worn, not even for five minutes. That's not saying anything about Kim K. it's about the fact that it's a 60 year old silk dress. Wearing it, especially in the way Kim did (in makeup, putting strain on seems and zipper, stepping on the hem climbing stairs, etc) , damages the dress and makes it harder to preserve the dress. Ripley's did not have strict procedures, if they did the dress would never have been loaned out like that. Seriously, Ripley's is in the museum doghouse right now for allowing this.

in mention of Marilyn Monroe's dress, i would like to also bring up that Emma Chamberlain's necklace that she wore at the met gala was the choker of Maharaja of Patiala which was very much stolen and has a big painful history to it. The jewels were literally stolen from Punjab and resurfaced in the Met Gala. I am dissapointed in the way Cartier gave a necklace with huge history and huge value to a youtuber as just an accessory.

also apparently kim was still too big to fit into the original dress, so allegedly the fur coat was to cover the not-properly-closed back of the dress. and yes, marilyn would have probably cared, this dress was literally sculpted onto her body, it was meant to be worn by her and her alone but i'm mostly pissed off by the kardashian entitlement to historic pieces just bc they can afford it.

The thing about Kim wearing Marilyn's dress was that she literally admitted ON PUBLIC TELEVISION that she had STARVED berself for three weeks. Just to fit the dress. Which is something we should stop normalizing!! This is what encourages eating disorders and fuels insecurities. She cut off 16 pounds in three damn weeks just to wear a dress...for 5 minutes. Imagine the message that its sending towards her younger fans ://Abolish the stigma that we should "starve" ourselves just for the aesthetic

It was such an easy theme. Especially for men, since tux was in. The only thing they needed was accessories.

I disagree with the Kim one. The whole point with Marilyns dress when it was made for her was that she would be the last to wearing it. Also, the dress wasnt Even from the gilded age

also another reason that I dislike Kim K wearing the marilyn's drees is that it looks SO PLAIN. the dress was cut to fit marilyn's curves perfectly, so what's the point of using the same dress if it's OBVIOUSLY not meant to look good on you? marylin also looked so confident and free in the pictures, the fact that she looks naked and had this GLOW about her personality and the way she moved made the look perfect. Kim could've EASILY made a copy that would fit her body nicely and make the dress more interesting to look at. she wore it with no magic, no personality, starving herself and the dress had a completely weird and stiff shape. she didn't even look happy or confident. so afar from everything marilyn did to make this dress so incredibly unique! if you're gonna copy something do it properly!

As an archivist Kim wearing Marilyn's dress literally makes me foam at the mouth because my brain cannot stop thinking about how she's straining the fabric and getting sweat on a historical artifact (also I fully agree with Dr. Chrisman-Campbell's thread that you linked). As a person with eyes I also think she looks really bad in it. The dress doesn't fit her and the nude illusion doesn't work because she has a different skin tone than Marilyn. If Kim wanted to do a Marilyn look (which she shouldn't have anyway bc it's off theme) she should've gotten a replica made that fit and matched her skin tone. As it is she looks like she's in a bad halloween costume.

Kim wearing the Marilyn dress was wrong on many levels, none of which are "Kim is too trashy while Marilyn was classy", which is..... gross to say the least. The dress is an actual historical artifact and not a Halloween costume; Kim had to go through extremely fast and unhealthy weight loss to even fit in the dress in the first place; and even when she did, the dress looks weird on her because it was made for Marilyn's skintone so the "nude" part of wearing a nude dress went out the window immediately. Not to mention how weirdly she styled it and made it look like a bejewelled nightie. If Kim really wanted to, she could've worked with a designer and paid tribute to the dress by commissioning a piece that would've fit HER perfectly, like the dress fit Marilyn. She only arranged to wear *that * dress as a flex, because she could.

I've heard countless conservators and curators say that wearing the dress was irresponsible and goes against international museum ethics. So yes, it's kind of a big deal

19:14 oh hell no. Marilyn specifically said when this dress was being designed that she wanted it to be a dress that 'only Marilyn Monroe could wear'. She would've definitely minded.

The thing that scares me the most about the Marilyn dress being loaned out, even for a short while, is that it sets a precedent that rich folks with clout can buy pieces of collective history from museums and possibly ruin them. Like, this time it was silk dress from the 60's, what if next time it's a Worth gown. I saw a video of the fitting with Kim and it made me cringe so bad, it's a 60 year old silk dress bro, that's delicate. Plus she was wearing stilettos with it and that could RUIN the hem if it got stepped on. Also the dress was supposed to be a nude effect and the shade was made to match Marilyn, not Kim, so it's too pale and makes it look tacky and strange. She also couldn't fit into it (she publicly said that she crash dieted to try to fit into it which is another oof) and so they had to tie the back of it and then she had that fur on to cover it up. They took a priceless piece of history and put it in jeopardy, for a theme that was for the LAST Met Gala, on a woman who pisses a lot of people off for justifiable reasons, and in the end it looked cheap and silly.

The fact that Cartier gave Emma chamberlain the choker which belonged to maharaja of patiala is so sickening to me...it is not even restored properly and they just gave this to a white celeb to elevate her looks...colonialism runs deep in the west yikes

I think there is another beautiful historical aspect to Billie Eilish's dress: the number of women at the time who would use fabric from dresses in outdated silhouettes to make new gowns. Not only is this ethical, but it feels in keeping with the era.

It’s not that it was Kim wearing the Monroe dress, it’s that ANYONE wore it! Ask a conservationist, it did damage to a one of a kind, historic, iconic dress that is extremely delicate. They don’t use cotton gloves, they use latex gloves. You could see her team stretching the dress over her ass. That’s damage. The most expensive dress in the world needs to be in the Smithsonian or equal museum.

Marilyn said specifically that she didn't want anyone else to wear that dress, cuz she said she wanted something made that only she would wear. So, yeah, I think she would have minded. update: bob mackie, the guy who sketched the gown, criticized Kim K for wearing the gown. Sooo... yeah, that says a lot about what the people who made the gown would have thought.

Kim wearing Marilyn's dress bothered me on two levels: First from the conservation angle, I really don't believe it was in the best interest of the conservation of the piece. Putting stress on those seams, the friction of movement, body sweat and oils, and the necessary washing of the dress that is now going to have to be done could all contribute to damages to it. Secondly, Marilyn commissioned that dress with a vision in mind. She wanted to make a statement about her own individuality and autonomy. She wanted "a dress only Marilyn Monroe could wear". I just don't think it's very respectful of her intentions or desires for someone else to be allowed to wear that dress. She had her agency stripped from her in so many ways while she was alive and her image has been used over and over for the gain of others after her death, I feel like we could have left her this one thing.

Its the fact that Kim wore not just 1 Marilyn dress, but TWO! It baffles me to know that she thinks she has the right to wear that.

Everyone I knew was hating on Billies dress and I was the only one loving it. It’s literally one of the only dresses on theme

Totally guilty of being a hardcore Marilyn Monroe stan😅 but just to show another perspective, I think a lot of people, including myself, took issue with the lengths Kim K went just to put on the dress. For instance, losing 16 pounds in 3 weeks just to put on a the dress for 5 minutes is very…concerning to say the least. The fact the she felt comfortable enough to promote that extreme weight loss is astounding. Also, seeing clips from behind the scenes on how the dress was handled was also glaring, they were rubbing on the dress trying to get Kim in and it seemed really careless. Also the fact that ripely gave Kim a piece of Marilyn’s HAIR to me demonstrates that they have no respect for this women. I think it’s just really sad to see Marilyn being commodified and objectified even after death, I just want the poor women to be able to Rest In Peace 😭

I disagreed when you said "I don't think Marilyn would have cared". She would have cared. There are quotes of her saying she wanted this to be a dress only she could wear. I agree that those tweets about Kim were extremely rude, but I still think it was disrespectful of her to wear the dress, because it directly went against Marilyn's wishes.

The fact that you don’t see what is wrong with Kim wearing the dress blows my mind. Not only she actually did damage the dress. But also, Marilyn did say that she did NOT want anyone wearing the dress, it was special for her and had meaning for her. I know she’s dead, but a little - just an ounce - of respect for THE HUMAN BEING that she was would be nice. She has been done so damn wrong lately, and disrespected even since she was alive. One would think a woman would understand. But no. I understand Kim and Ripley’s not understanding, but you? A minute of research would have told you everything you would need to know about that dress and the person it represents. Stop supporting the dehumanisation of Marilyn.

I feel like part of the problem is that every celeb/designer feels a need to stand out and do something super crazy. By doing so, they all end up interpretating the theme super loosely or ignoring it altogether. If a few people did this while everyone else followed the theme it would spice the gala up a bit, but, when everyone does it, the gala becomes a mess and no one looks like they belong at the same event. Honestly,. I think that sticking with the theme but interpreting it in a unique way is a much greater show of creativity and talent than it is to ignore the theme and do whatever they want.

Kim didn't even fit the dress, that's why she had the jacket, it was covering up the opening on her bum. Plus Marilyn described the dress in the request for it's making as "something only Marilyn Monroe could wear". It clearly meant something to her. The way they also gifted a piece of HER HAIR is also just so unbelievable.

I can't find the post that explained why Kim shouldn't have worn Marilyn's dress far better than I'm able to rn, but it had nothing to do w classiness and everything to do with what Marilyn represented as a woman who rose up from poverty, who supported marginalized people and who battled misogyny and body standards at every turn vs Kim, a rich woman who gets even richer and richer, who sells and promotes diet products to young girls who look up to her, who tells women who haven't been born rich to just work harder etc

I know i'm suuuper late to the party but I also want to point out my issue with the whole Kim K wearing Marilyn's dress thing. As someone who just graduated from studying art in college and who has a deep relationship to art, culture, history and their preservation, what Kim did is utterly disrespectful not just to Marilyn (which in my opinion should be enough of a reason to not let her wear the dress. Marilyn was disrespected through her whole life and she keeps getting disrespected on death) but to everyone in general. It just shows that if you have enough money to destroy or irreparably damage an artistic/historical/cultural piece, as long as the owner (be it a person or a institution) can make profit off you damaging it, they'll let you do it. Even if by any chance Kim hadn't damaged it so badly it would still be outrageous as a demonstration that even the sole risk of destroying a historical dress is not that big of a deal if you can afford it. It also made me tremendously sad and angry because fashion pieces are VERY FRAGILE, and fabric is a material that deteriorates VERY QUICKLY, so its preservation is really, REALLY difficult. Tho I do not, by any means, justify the disgusting misogynistic comments I saw during those weeks, Kim deserved to be criticized for what she did. If she wanted to honor Marilyn so badly, instead of paying to wear the dress for 10 minutes and destroying it in the meantime, she could've simply worn the replica since the beginning. That would have been a much more beautiful way of honoring her, because paying your way into destroying Marilyn's (material) heritage is a very poor way of showing any respect for her. With all due respect, the dress not being on theme is the least of the issues in this situation.

Kim Kardashian did damage the dress though. Even with a painstaking routine of weight loss. I just don't see why she had to have the actual historical piece, she chould have accomplished it just fine in the replica. Hateful comments are unnecessary but so was her wearing and damaging the dress. Not worth it.

i do have a big issue with kim wearing marilyn's dress but it's nothing to do with the content of their characters and everything to do with the fact that this is a historical garment that she's wearing (i know it was only for the red carpet, but kim still moved around and sweat in it, that still does cause damage), it's not on theme, it doesn't match her skin tone because it was made to match marilyns skin tone. and she changed into a replica anyway??? so if you're really so committed to this terrible not on theme idea why not just wear the replica instead?

My biggest problem with Kim Kardashian wearing Marilyn's dress, aside from the historical value the dress has, is that it is yet another way to completely disregard every wish Marilyn had for her belongings to go to her closest friends and loved ones, it keeps selling Marilyn as an object and a "sex symbol" the way hollywood always forced her to be, it gets worse with dumb people going "kim k is the modern day marilyn" when they have no point of comparison aside from the hypersexualization of both EDIT: Just so you know, I will not reply to more people here. No, there is no comparison between the two, Marilyn Monroe lived in poverty before being famous and did what she thought she had to in order to earn money and survive, mantained her beliefs and support for those underprivileged and was and is STILL treated to this day as an object, a fictional character fabricated to sell Norma Jeane for just her looks, to the point where they give pieces of her as souvenirs. Using her image as decoration and her grave as a tourist stop. Not even in death has she found peace and her belongings and possessions being sold, auctioned and loaned like this is just another way of cutting her ghost in pieces and selling her to the highest bidder. Is wrong. It goes against her wishes, and it disrespects her memory. That's all, I am not attacking anyone, I am just saying that it is wrong.

the way billie said "....existing materials" sounded like they didn't want her to use the word recycled lol

Their "strict procedures" did nothing. And these Maralyn lovers aren't mad over nothing. She RUINED this dress. Literally stretched and ripped the fabric. Some of the beads were MISSING off the back of the dress... That fur jacket was added because the dress can't fully zip😂 now that's what I call trashy. Marilyn wouldn't been PISSED given the fact she spent hours being sewn INTO the dress and Kim just stretched it out. It didn't even fit her yet she still wore it? IT WASNT MADE FOR HER. You said it perfect, Kim was born rich. That's the ONLY reason she was allowed to wear it. She ruined a historical artifact that once belonged to a real American idol because she is selfish had had the cash to flash. 😐

Aren’t the creators of this event embarrassed that they have a theme each year and nobody bothers following it? It would literally have me PISSSSSSED if I threw a party and nobody cared to dress according to the theme. The audacity! The Met is losing our respect and it’s prestige.

Billie Eillish's dress was made from used scrap fabric, once I found that out I let the whole miss matching thing go because I'm not about to shame someone for understanding the assignment let me tell you that much. Out of everyone there Billie is surprisingly my north star. After last years met my expectations for her were raised significantly and I like how clear her style evolution is. I don't expect her to put out a look every time she leaves the house but we can clearly see that she has a lot of respect for the event and for the fashion industry all together and we can see her bring in her sense of self, morals and ideals into the planning room and just how much involvement she had in the making of this look. I can't wait to see what she wears next year.

My problem with Kim and the Marilyn dress is that she talked explicitly about starving herself and losing something like 16 pounds in two weeks to fit into it. Even with that unhealthily rapid weight loss, the dress could not close in the back (hence the ugly stole). It frustrates me that she would even undertake such a crash diet for a dress she would only wear for five minutes, let alone publicize it. She and her sisters have such an impact on beauty culture - I wish they'd be more responsible about it instead of suggesting that crash dieting is a fine and normal practice.

Not sure if anyone mentioned this but Marilyn Monroe is quoted as saying no one else should ever wear the Happy Birthday dress after her. It was made for her personally and fitted her perfectly.

These videos are so cathartic lol. It was painful seeing look after look come out and literally every single person disregarded the theme. You're telling me these people had the opportunity and all the resources in the world to dress up like a John Singer Sargent painting and they DIDN'T take it? It's infuriating!

I’m so confused at why people wear things that are so ugly and off theme, if I were a fashion house or a stylist I would be dying to put my best foot forward at such a big event ??

I don’t see enough people talk about Quannah Chasinghorse. She looked absolutely gorgeous and keeps representing TRUE American fashion, especially for the gilded age in which many rights were taken from indigenous and people of color.

I'm so upset that NOBODY will mention Johnny Suh when he looked gorgeous in his modern tailcoat, honestly they did a wonderful job designing his outfit

I just wanted to add that Emma Chamberlain's choker is the Maharaja of Patalia's Cartier Diamond choker. While this isn't Emma's fault as she's a Cartier ambassador she shouldn't have been wearing this. This should have been returned to the Sikh populations in India. This belongs to India and shouldn't be strutted out as if it was just a fashion statement. There's nothing that highlights the inequality of the Gilded Age more than wearing jewels that belong to colonized peoples (i mean she was on theme so slay ig....) But white people showing off jewels that they stole from colonized lands continued to today is disappointing. The fact that Indian jewels are being held in the British crown jewel office, the fact that all of the resources that powered the gilded age were from exploited lands, the fact that we (I say we as I'm Punjabi) still aren't in possession of jewels that belonged to us shows colonialism's everlasting impact. It's so normalized and makes me realize that the jewelry industry not only used to be exploitative but continues to normalize use of colonized land's resources.

I think I'm personally uncomfortable with Kim wearing Marilyn's dress because Marilyn was so outspoken about diet culture and eating disorders and Kim promoted disordered eating habits just to fit into the dress

I adore this video (and you) but I completely disagree with your take on the Kim dress situation. Sure, yes, at the end of the day it's just a dress/material item, one of hundreds Marilyn wore, and it's a item that was handled with care by the team. However, Kim is a billionaire. We cannot even comprehend having the immense wealth and access to power she (and other billionaires) have. And she is a billionaire who is directly responsible for Skims (under Cherry Intimates Ltd.) which did NOT sign the extremely crucial Bangladesh Accord but is using an Accord factory (freeloading off the accord) and not paying single dollar to ensure her worker's safety. And it's been a well known fact in the industry for over a decade now that the Kardashian's have used slave labour (I'm talking Chinese youth working over 80 hours a week for around a $1 an hour to create their old shitty shoes). Let's not forget Khloe and Kylie directly stealing designs from black creators. I'm so tired of people being so protective but yet also dismissive to the actions of billionaires. The kind of wealth where they can afford to pay EVERY SINGLE WORKER a more-than above average wage and STILL be billionaires/multi-millionaires. No single family deserves hoarding that much wealth. Kim directly benefits from the garment industry being as destructive as it is for both it's workers and the environment. Also, I'ma stand up for my girl Marilyn. Sure she was from humble beginnings and dealt with severe mental health (that went unchecked and minimized) but if she were still alive today she'd know, learn, and see what a god damn icon she has become and that some Kardashian-definitely-not-self-made-but-they-can-keep-trying-to-claim-that billionaire definitely does NOT need to be wearing one of her own custom, iconic dresses complete with a shoddy bleach job to boot.

Absolutely disagree. Kim PHYSICALLY damaged the dress beyond repair. Period.

I have a problem with Kim wearing Marilyn’s dress because knowing that the last person to wear it wasn’t Marilyn anymore feels really wrong. Marilyn deserves to have this dress commemorated for her and her alone. Kim isn’t anything like Marilyn and it shows that once again, as long as you have enough money, you can do whatever you want

There are a lot of really good arguments against Kim K wearing Marilyn's dress. My first thought was : what's the difference between the authentic dress and a well made copy? I mean literally Kim could have had this dress made for her by a team of professionnals. To the exact details bc she could have had the help of the museum and access to the original dress to get a perfect copy of it. This is so over the top. I know it's fashion and clothes are meant to be wear but imagine celebrities asking for original art pieces or music instruments just to make a statement. 5 minutes on the red carpet with flashes on im no expert but i dont think this is a proper way to treat an archive piece, the very thing the met gala is supposed to represents and fund.

Abby Cox did a great video on why the Marilyn dress being worn was problematic! She brings up how objects meant for preservation are not to be worn, as said in multiple museums code of ethics which Ripley's was in direct violation of. Disappointing that she wore it at all when there was a replica she changed into anyways.

I disagree with the statement that Marilyn Monroe wouldn't care if Kim were wearing her dress, because she specifically stated that she never wanted anyone else to wear it.

my problem with kim wearing marilyns dress come in about three points: 1. kim hasn't done half of what marilyn has for women and minorities and created an ethical business like marilyn did(she became the second woman in US history to own a production company. she also helped ella fitzgerald, one of the best singers in US history in my opinion, to jumpestart her career. kim has done none of this). I am not saying kim is inherently a bad person, but she has been involved in a lot of bad business and ethical scandals and has exploited others to benefit herself on top of already being rich when she was born. 2. kim had to literally starve herself to fit into the dress only to wear it for five minutes. this sends an incredibly dangerous message to young girls and women about what you need to do to feel beautiful and worthy of appreciation from others. this promotes eating disorders and terrible beauty ideals. 3. IT WASN'T EVEN ON THEME!!!!!! if theres is truly anything to be upset about, she didn't even come close to the theme and that really upsets me. she has the money to do something right for these events and she never does. and if you aren't going to be on theme, then commit 100% to the theme you're doing yourself. go all out with the hair and makeup, and she also didn't do that. so those are my thoughts, you can disagree if you like and thats your prerogative. i won't force others to believe in my opinion but i still want to put my two cents in because i think some of these things should be talked about. i agree that I don't think marilyn would've been upset about her wearing the dress, but she probably would've been upset that kim had to legitimately starve herself in order to fit into it and then still not have it fit perfectly. EDIT: i've seen others quote marilyn syaing that she didn't want anyone else to wear this dress, to have it specifically designed for her. so this is a huge sign of disrespect that marilyns wishes still aren't being respected especially after she has passed and can't even say anything about it or stop it. that makes me even more upset about the whole thing.

I'm sad you didn't talk about Quannah Rose's look. Her look resonated deeply with our community as it represented the resilience of Indigenous communities during the Gilded Era. We were meant to be erased but here is Quannah standing tall and walking beautifully adorning Indigenous jewelry.

I still can’t believe the choice to do the tone-deaf theme of the Gilded Age at all. It feels like a huge thumbs up to the insane wealth inequality, horrible labor conditions, and hatred for immigrants that we experience now just like then.

17:38 so, she was inspired to do a Marilyn look at last year's met gala , the one where Billie Eilish completely embodied the Marilyn look Without having to do irreparable damage to an original one of a kind garment and promote a dangerous crash diet? /smh

I saw a thing on tik tok about Billie’s dress I think you’d like! Someone mentioned that the dress looked “arsenic green” which was popular during the Gilded Age and her gloves looked like the kind of skin condition you’d develop from arsenic poisoning.

Hats were LITERALLY the cherry on top of women's fashion during the time, and then lack of hats and theme is terrible.....How are these fashion designers/stylists, even called fashion designers/stylists when they can't even follow A SIMPLE THEME....They literally just went, "Oh, let me just Google vintage fashion and boom they you go" ...How tf Kim fit that dress?? I don't believe that at all and it's literally a different size from a different era. Let's not forget Sebastian Stan in his "A pimp named Highlighter" outfit.....Oh, another honorable mention Rhada Blank Edit: my question about this Kim thing was answered by only 2 people with class and respect, I got it, so don't tell my about it lol and it literally wasn't her size so yea...

I LOVED Blake Lively's dress. I can't understand how anyone wouldn't - it was designed to be THE showstopper and it succeeded. I mean, it got her another baby, didn't it? (I don't care if the timing is off, it's my joke and I love it.) I love the colors and the tribute and she WOULD look good in a potato sack. Just amazing.

Johnny Suh was the single most talked about man in attendance, I would have loved to hear your thoughts on Peter Do’s design.

My issue with Kim K wearing Marilyn’s dress isn’t that Kim is “vulgar”. I think that we’re in a time where we’re past that, or should be. I don’t like it because Marilyn Monroe was a kind person who tried to do her best to come up from nothing, got disrespected and taken advantage of by the world most of her adult life, then died young. Kim K is a rich lady who was born rich and, while disrespected herself, she also puts down and disrespects other women by saying we need to “work harder” and stop being so poor.

I use to work in archives centres, and the Kim K's dress choice pissed me off so much! I am convinced that if anyone else had asked for the dress they would have refused. The VERY point of the MET gala is to finance archives! Archives which--even ones with invaluable items--rarely get the financing they need. Some rich celebrity coming in with money they need and asking for outrageous things... I can guarantee there were archivist within that institution who hated this situation and objected. But when it's between allowing this stupidity and getting the financing you need to protect dozens of other historical documents, it's easy to accept shit that WILL damage items under your care. Because it's not just sweat from the person wearing the dress, it's also lights! Light is very damaging to old items, and the whole point of the red carpet is that you're getting dozens of cameras flashing at you. Conservation-wise this is a nightmare. Also, imo, Kim K's whole shtick seems to be appropriating stories of people who HAVE struggled. And this feels like more of the same, and I think it's gross, even beyond my archivist knee-jerk reaction of DON'T.

I have nothing against Kim Kardashian. However from a conservation perspective that dress should not have been worn. It is made of fabric that is not made anymore and is fragile, and you can see it stretching around her hips. That is problematic....what is even more problematic is that she lost 16lbs in 2 weeks in order to even sort of fit in it.

I think it would’ve been lovely if Kim took the essence of Marilyn’s dress and put a gilded glamour spin on it. Imagine a sparkling skin toned (for Kim) dress with a corset and full skirt.

What gave the dress it’s value was because Marilyn was the last person to wear it. Now it’s Kim...🤦‍♀️ it’s like if someone opened the packaging of a collectible item😳

Yes, there is a theme. You have money and a stylist. I don't understand why so many of these folks miss the mark. Thanks for your time and commentary.

9:08 “to mimic the empire state building” *shows picture of statue of liberty* 😂❤

You can't possibly know what a deceased woman you've never met would think about another woman wearing her dress for clout especially when she's been quoted saying "I want a dress only Marilyn Monroe can wear." Let's be real, Kim did it for clout (thats what the kardashians do.. chase clout its not petty to say so its fact). It's not about pettiness, it's about respect. It also has nothing to do with merely historical conservation of an American artifact (which the dress most assuredly is). Its about respect. Respect for a deceased woman who is not here to ACTUALLY tell us how she feels and with no living relatives to speak on her behalf. Marilyn has been objectified her whole life since she was a child. By trying to claim you know how she would feel based on your perception of the image 2D she portrayed in her career 60+ years ago is further objectification. The best course is to never assume how she would feel and leave her stuff alone ( and to never accept a lock of her hair as a gift for copping her look as Kim did). PLUS, let's make sure to talk about how this look of "Kim's" utterly lacks even an ounce of creativity. There was no concept other than to reuse a custom dress made for somebody else. Thats worse than the fact it wasn't even on theme.

The fact that rumors are swirling that next year Anna has to approve *everyone’s* outfits to ensure they’re on theme says volumes (if it turns out to be true) about how off track so many designers/celebs have been

Emma Chamberlain's cartier choker was stolen from the Maharaj of Patiala, which I think is more insulting than Kim wearing Marilyn's dresses

what I love about blake's dress is that it kinda fades from copper to turquoise like copper does irl...

hoyeon jung’s look was so cute that idc if it was off theme 😭😭

When Marilyn asked Jean Louis to design the dress she told him "I want you to design a truly historical dress, a dazzling dress thats one of a kind, a dress that only Marilyn Monroe could wear." I believe thats why people have been triggered by Kim wearing it since it's a bit disrespectful to her legacy and Marilyn's original intent/wishes when creating this piece. It's no longer Marilyn's dress, but 'Marilyn's dress that Kim Kardashian wore'.

Everyone’s talking about Kim K and the glamour; but the one that stood out to me was the man dressed as a worker. Not only were immigrants poor but the majority of citizens. The only food there should’ve been is bread to reminisce on how a majority of people lived

Actually, the Astors were part of the “old money” set by the time of the Gilded Age and Caroline Astor was notorious for excluding the Vanderbilts whenever they first rose to prominence. Also, the gilded age as a term does a great job describing the hollowness of the era since it’s called gilded rather than golden, which alludes to the era’s extreme inequality and how the opulent wealth and prevailing images of the day were built on the misery of others from exploiting immigrants to child laborers, these “triumphs” of successful new money families provided the gilded overlay whereas the harsh realities and rampant corruption that allowed so many industrialists to rise so high are what lies underneath a thin layer of gilt.

Girl, I have zero interest in fashion but this video is making me want to research the gilded age and all the aspects of dress you’re pointing out. Like this is all quite fascinating.

I'm surprised you didn't mention Emma Chamberlin's necklace! From what I've heard, it was actually stolen from the Maharaj of Patiala, or at the very least is a replica of the stolen necklace which felt very weirdly on theme and not in a good way, in terms of an influencer wearing the stolen wealth of a nation that was historically oppressed by the ruling classes of Great Britain.

Blake's dress is on theme because the statue of liberty was built during the gilded age and it was copper at first then it turned green as time went by. As we see her transform from a copper dress to a green one. In my opinion it's a great reference.

i can’t believe you didn’t love blake lively’s dress & that no one’s talking about it in the comments! it was so on theme, so meaningful, the transition was incredible, and it was so well tailored and designed. definitely one of my favorites, and, for me, the most memorable, of the night 🤍✨

Pleasantly surprised by Riz Ahmed's look, paying respect to the unseen people of the era is a nice touch

Nicola Coughlan nailed her outfit and I feel like her being in a period drama probably helped her be more aware of fashion trends in different time periods. You can tell she did her research and didn't just google "vintage dress" and put that on

Camilla Cabello explaining her dress is me trying to bullshit my way through an essay at 3 am for a class I only half paid attention to the entire semester

The stylists that fully immerse themselves in the theme and inspire the model to have the excitement of the moment and appreciation of history, does so much for the model /celebrity. It gives so much more value and exclusivity to fashion and art as well as a genuine articulate moment for some.

One sure mark of excellence -- in almost any art form -- is when the artist knows which rules to follow and which rules to break. Thank you, Mina Le, for having the courage to stand your ground here. Staying on theme for a high-end, high-stakes, fundraising event is Etiquette 101.

A lot of the dresses/outfits were really lovely, they just weren't on theme. Blake Lively's dress really would've been great LAST year, with its Lady Liberty theme. A few felt spot on, but yeah, several missed the mark so hard they clearly weren't even aiming.

They should start receiving draft designs for acceptance to the Guestlist to maintain the integrity of the theme.

i appreciate how thorough your videos are❤️

I honestly think that this is the consequence of inviting influencers and singers to fashion events instead of actual fashion pioneers and innovators. The brands that dress the celebrities try to show off, completely miss (or even better: ignore) the theme and end up with disappointing results in the long run.