Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!, which owns Monroe’s gown and leased it to Kardashian for the May event, said Thursday that, despite reports to the contrary, Kardashian “did not, in any way, damage the garment in the short amount of time it was worn at the Met Gala.”
Amanda Joiner, Ripley’s VP of publishing and licensing, accompanied the dress on its journey from Florida to New York, as well as while Kardashian wore it. She added that the gown was unchanged “from the bottom of the Met steps, where Kim got into the dress, to the top where it was returned.”
The garment was significantly damaged when Ripley’s purchased it at auction in 2016, with “a number of the seams pulled and worn” and “puckering at the back by the hooks and eyes.”
Monroe made the gown famous when she wore it to sing “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy in 1962. Kardashian wore the dress solely for red carpet shots before changing into a copy she designed for the rest of the event.
The gown is presently on display at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Hollywood until the end of the season.