Listen If The Theme Was Gilded Age Glamor And You Invited Me To A Ball, You'd Get All The Bling. There

listen if the theme was gilded age glamor and you invited me to a ball, you'd get all the bling. there would be a six foot train. tiers of silk. a correct corset

All my life I've been so lonely

All in the name of being holy

ahhh!!!!

Michelle Yeoh - 2022 Met Gala Photos: Getty

Reblogging with words from the brilliant Chaédria LaBouvier  — from her Instagram posts: 1, 2  — for additional context: 

“It cannot be unseen that a museum, which posits its very existence is to preserve objects and this calling is so sacred you can’t know what it is that they do and how they do it, allowed a woman to wear the dress so singular the only other person to wear had to be sewn into it.”

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“[...] this is a great time to discuss inequality, pro-choice, the oligarchy, ethics, museums, the Supreme Court, scholars and the fact that we are in hell. [...] I should preface this by saying many of you know me as a Basquiat scholar but! I actually attended film school and in my extra grad year, studied w/Deborah Landis, a legendary costume designer. 

Marilyn Monroe’s dress that she wore in 1962 was sketched by a young Bob Mackie and created by Jean-Louis, a fashion and costume designer whose influence of/in Golden Era Hollywood rivals Adrian and Edith Head (my personal favorite). Its made of soufflé silk, a fabric created by the defunct silk weaving and textile company, Bianchini-Fériér, whose archives are now w/ The Design Library in upstate NY. It is impossible to recreate it; it is banned due to its incredibly high flammability. It also created a nude look that was unrivaled before or after, essential during a time when censor laws were stringent and enforced. Before it was banned (the 80s I believe?), Bob Mackie famously used it to create nude looks for Cher. I’ve included a photo of her &Mackie at the Met Gala, ‘74. Monroe was a Dietrich fan and also a heavy student of film history (she loved silent actors) and costume design. I believe she was inspired by this gown (slide 6) worn by Dietrich also designed by Jean-Louis. Monroe was doing what the best fashion does — dialogue w/history while elevating it. Monroe’s dress should’ve never left Ripley’s Believe It or Not. The dress was so custom for Monroe — she was sewn into the dress, totally nude so it would be made only for her, and Jean-Louis hand dyed the silk to match her skin— that there’s no way Kardashian’s body, crash diet starved as it was, would not stress the 60 yr old dress, weight, seams, fabric or one of the 6,000 rhinestones sewn into it.  

We are in hell. Not b/c a billionaire on paper wanted to wear Monroe’s dress, but b/c all of the safeguards are failing. A Met gala while the SC quietly tried to gut abortion rights is so apropos, Seneca himself could not write it.”

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“You’re probably like, “what does a dress have to do with abortion rights?” I mean that’s fair. But I would venture that Kardashian’s request — and the fact it was meant and met w/seriousness— is an example of the fact we have no recourse for how to tell people with everything, no. Some things are simply not for sale. And yet. It cannot be unseen that a museum, which posits its very existence is to preserve objects and this calling is so sacred you can’t know what it is that they do and how they do it, allowed a woman to wear the dress so singular the only other person to wear had to be sewn into it. Let us not forget the pole heels which surely crushed a few rhinestones too. A dress is a red flag. And is because we have gutted and devalued what scholars, activists and writers and artists do — who are almost always, when doing their job correctly, the first line of defense in a healthy and functioning society. We live in a society where women are not full citizens, Black people are not full citizens — and we refuse to codify that into law. Yet, corporations, as the Supreme Court declared, are people. The Met Gala is, in this decline and end of empire, a true reflection of the incuriosity which governs our imaginations, dullness which brightness the diamonds, and the obsession w/money when none of it is actually real. None of it. Historians have been crying foul at Kardashian wearing the dress, as they should. But I hope the irony is not lost on my colleagues — it *would* be a museum failing in this ethical responsibility to safeguard a garment which is irreplaceable the formation and ideation of (White)American ideals and ideas of its on sexuality, sensuality and vitality. It should be available to future generations. And how often have museums disregarded their responsibility to the archive and the public — it’s future— for a cheque? And at what point is the point of no return? We will soon find out. I am writing those questions and hopefully answers, but I have to say, this episode of End of Empire could not have been better staged and set designed than if we had been sewn into ourselves. #metgala #metgala2022 #marilynmonroe Citation: @thelingerieaddict

Conservators ‘speechless’ that Kim Kardashian wore Marilyn Monroe’s dress to Met Gala

[Image: Evan Agostini / Associated Press] 

Los Angeles Times — 3 May 2022 | Byline: Nardine Saad, Deborah Vankin

“The Met Gala is now part of the garment’s history — and it didn’t need to be.”

Keep reading

Conservators ‘speechless’ that Kim Kardashian wore Marilyn Monroe’s dress to Met Gala

[Image: Evan Agostini / Associated Press] 

Los Angeles Times — 3 May 2022 | Byline: Nardine Saad, Deborah Vankin

“The Met Gala is now part of the garment’s history — and it didn’t need to be.”

Textile conservators and fashion curators are appalled that beauty mogul Kim Kardashian donned Marilyn Monroe’s iconic Jean Louis gown for the 2022 Met Gala. Monroe’s show-stopping garment became famous 60 years ago when the Hollywood legend wore it to sing a breathless “Happy Birthday” to President Kennedy.

Kardashian, a pop culture phenom in her own right, became the only other person to slip into the historic garment for Monday’s Met Gala, a “gilded glamour"-themed affair at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. “The Kardashians” star joined hundreds toasting the opening of the Costume Institute’s newest exhibition, “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” which examines historical context and tells stories of unsung heroes in early American fashion design.

“I’m frustrated because it sets back what is considered professional treatment for historic costume,” says Sarah Scaturro, chief conservator at the Cleveland Museum of Art and formerly a conservator at the Met’s Costume Institute. “In the ’80s, a bunch of costume professionals came together to state a resolution that historic costume should not be worn. So my worry is that colleagues in historic costume collections are now going to be pressured by important people to let them wear garments.”

Cara Varnell, a longtime independent art conservator specializing in historic dress, put it this way: “We just don’t wear archived historic pieces,” she says. “Obviously, if you have a Charles James hanging in your grandmother’s closet and you want to wear it, fine. But something that’s archived means it has enough cultural importance that we value it and want to save it. The dress represents something very important — it’s part of our collective cultural heritage. I’m speechless over it.”

The reality TV star took on the sartorial soiree’s theme and historical context requisites by selecting Monroe’s bejeweled gown, which she described as “the original naked dress.” The “Some Like It Hot” star herself had to be sewn into the piece ahead of her sensual 1962 performance at a Madison Square Garden fundraiser that took place a few months before her death.

“The idea really came to me after the gala in September last year. I thought to myself, what would I have done for the American theme if it had not been the Balenciaga look? What’s the most American thing you can think of? And that’s Marilyn Monroe,” Kardashian, 41, told Vogue. “For me the most Marilyn Monroe moment is when she sang ‘Happy Birthday,’ to JFK, it was that look.”

[Image - Cecil Stoughton / JFK Presidential Library & Museum]

Monroe’s gown, the most expensive dress ever sold at auction, is made of a delicate fabric called souffle. It’s stretchy and resilient when it’s new, but becomes weaker and more brittle with age. What’s more, it’s embroidered with heavy beadwork — thousands of hand-sewn beads. “Gravity can do a lot of damage,” says Kevin Jones, curator of the FIDM Museum at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. “Whenever you move, something is giving way, even if you can’t see it. Under a microscope it would show all these little splits. And over time that would be a big problem. ”

What’s at risk, Jones adds, is more than just a dress. The garment is a vehicle channeling history — “it speaks” — and damage to it has cultural consequences for generations to come.

“Our job is to get the garment to the next generation with as little damage as possible, so that 500 years from now, these objects are around to talk about our history, our collective history as people, design, technology, arts and culture,” Jones says. “All of that gets blended into a single object, in this case a garment. It represents a moment in time.”

Ripley’s Believe It or Not in Orlando lent the gown — believed to be valued now at more than $10 million — to Kardashian after acquiring it in 2016 for nearly $5 million. In a statement, Ripley’s said that it “strongly feels that this dress, with both political and pop culture significance, is the most famous item of clothing from twentieth century culture.” (The gown and some of Monroe’s and Kardashian’s accessories will be put on display at Ripley’s Believe It or Not Hollywood for a limited time beginning Memorial Day weekend.)

“We are truly proud to be the stewards of such an iconic artifact and are excited to be able to add to its cultural significance with Kim Kardashian, who is sharing the story of Marylin Monroe and her iconic career with an entirely new generation,” Ripley’s vice president of publishing and licensing, Amanda Joiner, said in a statement Monday.

It’s worth noting that Ripley’s Believe It or Not is not a museum. It’s part of a privately owned, for-profit “attractions company,” as it refers to itself, with themed locations around the world. While Kardashian didn’t pay the company a fee to don the dress, she donated money — Ripley’s would not disclose how much — to two organizations on Ripley’s behalf.

“She’ll be donating to two Florida-based organizations — a goodwill gesture in appreciation of us allowing her to wear the dress,” Joiner said in an interview. “We’re not disclosing their names, but they’re organizations we’ve worked with in the past, and they’re youth-oriented in arts and underserved communities.”

Kardashian, the Skims shapewear founder, who went blond for the event and ascended the Met’s Grand Staircase along with her boyfriend, Pete Davidson, also said she didn’t initially fit into the dress. She shed 16 pounds for the occasion because she wasn’t allowed to alter the gown and reportedly had to drape a fur stole over the partially fastened zipper. After taking photos in the dress, Kardashian changed into a replica dress for the gala, Ripley’s said, noting that “great care was taken to preserve this piece of history.”

Kardashian also said that armed guards and gloves were required at her fitting.

“With input from garment [conservators], appraisers, archivists, and insurance, the garment’s condition was top priority,” Ripley’s said. “No alterations were made to the dress.”

John Corcoran, director of exhibits and archives for Ripley’s Believe It or Not, who is in charge of conservation, added that Kardashian could wear the dress only after adhering to guidelines. That included no body makeup, no alterations and wearing the garment only for the red carpet portion of the evening. “No damage occurred at last night’s event,” Corcoran said in a statement, adding that Kardashian “has become a steward — and added to — its history.”

But Scaturro says there are still inevitable dangers: perspiration, sunlight and oxygen, in addition to changes in temperature and humidity, pose threats to such a fragile garment. “Putting it on a human body will damage it no matter how careful you are,” she says.

On Wednesday, the dress will return to the Ripley’s vault in Orlando, Fla., Corcoran notes. He describes the space as a dark, temperature- and humidity-controlled room. In order to maintain the fabric’s integrity, the dress will not be washed. It will be housed in a case, mounted on a form and covered in acid-free, cotton muslin.

“The form helps prevent folds and stress on the dress,” Corcoran says, “while the muslin protects it from light, humidity and environmental contaminants.”

How will the dress get to Orlando? On Kardashian’s private jet, Ripley’s said.

Fashion historian Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, author of “Worn on This Day: The Clothes That Made History,” says the whole incident is a bit meta.

“The Met Gala is now part of the garment’s history — and it didn’t need to be,” she says. “I was kind of baffled by the whole decision to wear it at all because it didn’t really fit the theme of the night — and they made a full replica, so why not just wear the replica?”

If there’s an upside to the incident, some curators and conservators said, it would be creating conversation around fashion conservation. But the risks outweigh the reward, Jones says.

“If you wear something, there’s stress and strain,” he says. “Once it’s damaged it’s always damaged. You can’t go back.”

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2022-05-03/kim-kardashian-marilyn-monroe-dress-2022-met-gala-conservators