This article has been updated since its initial publish date as the 2023 Met Gala approaches on May 1, 2023.
We still haven’t recovered from Kim Kardashian‘s Marilyn Monroe moment from the 2022 Met Gala, and revisiting the SKIMS founder’s history-making red carpet ensemble has us even more excited for fashion’s biggest night of 2023. (This year’s theme will be Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty!)
As we prepare for this year’s most notable red carpet fashion event (which will take place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on May 1st), we thought it would be fun to take a look back at the most memorable and sultry gown of 2022’s Gala.
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Recalling Kim Kardashian’s Iconic ‘Happy Birthday Mr. President’ Dress at the 2022 Met Gala
The Kardashians, as fans will recall, took over the Met Gala last May. For the first time in history, all five of the Kardashian-Jenner ladies walked the red carpet of the Gala, which took place in New York on Monday, May 2nd.
The theme for last year’s event was ‘Gilded Glamour’ to coincide with the opening night of part two of the ‘In America: An Anthology of Fashion’ exhibition, which explored the roots of American style at the museum’s Costume Institute.
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Things were back to normal in terms of the Met Gala schedule (if you’ll recall, it was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic and rescheduled to September in 2021) but things were anything but ordinary on the red carpet. And one of the biggest reasons was Kim Kardashian!
Although it was a family affair, all eyes were on the SKKN mogul, who blew everyone away with her extraordinary appearance! (It was also the second time she was officially snapped on the red carpet with her then-boyfriend, Saturday Night Live star, Pete Davidson, having made their debut at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner a few days prior; and boy did they look adorable together!)
READ MORE: You’ll Do A Double Take When You See These Celebs’ Mini Dresses From The Met Gala 2022 After Party
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The first part of Kim’s jaw-dropping look was that her signature raven locks were nowhere to be seen, as she had turned into a platinum blonde bombshell! Wow! She was well and truly channeling *the* most iconic blonde in history, the late Marilyn Monroe, by wearing – and we have goosebumps writing this – her actual Jean Louis-designed gold glittering “Happy Birthday, Mr President” dress on the red carpet. We still have no words!
So what made Kim go down this history-making sartorial route? “The idea really came to me after the gala in September last year,” Kim told Vogue. “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.” No arguments there!
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And for anyone who might think that Kim was wearing an expertly made wig, the Kardashians star confirmed that the blonde hair was all hers! “I’m spending the whole day just dyeing my hair, 14 hours straight,” Kim told Vogue via a telephone interview at the time. Although Kim didn’t reveal whether she intended to stay blonde for a while, there were many other secrets about the iconic dress that she was willing to share.
Kim Kardashian in the Marilyn Monroe dress that launched 1,000 wars…#MetGala pic.twitter.com/QQ0ki0Nz5Z
— KKWStyle2017 (@kkwstyle2017) April 30, 2023
According to reports, Kim tried a replica on when her outfit was decided, and the real thing was flown via private plane from Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum in Orlando, Florida, to her home in California. (Ripley’s acquired the dress after it was sold at Julien’s Auctions in 2016 for an eye-watering $4.8 million. Wow!) And even though the replica fit perfectly, the real thing didn’t! “The dress was transported by guards and I had to wear gloves to try it on,” Kim 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.”
Kim Kardashian and Marilyn Monroe pic.twitter.com/yo2B7q345c
— orange (@orangegrrl) April 30, 2023
Kim then proceeded to tell the fashion bible that she lost an incredible 16 lbs in just three weeks to fit into the gown *omg!* adding: “I would wear a sauna suit twice a day, run on the treadmill, completely cut out all sugar and all carbs, and just eat the cleanest veggies and protein. I didn’t starve myself, but I was so strict.” Kim then revealed that she only wore the actual dress on the steps of the Met Gala to take the initial pictures, as she then changed into a replica for the rest of the evening! We would never have known!
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A Look Back: The Kardashians’ Memorable 2022 Met Gala Moments
Elsewhere on the Met Gala red carpet, Kim’s sisters also turned heads with their appearances. Kendall Jenner proved why she is one of the most in-demand supermodels of the moment, as she looked incredible with bleached brows, wearing a Prada ensemble which consisted of a very racy sheer crop top and a voluminous black skirt.
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Kylie wore an Off-White wedding dress, complete with an interesting white baseball hat headpiece, while Kourtney Kardashian looked chic in a black and white Thom Browne skirt as she made her Met Gala debut.
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This was also the first time Khloé had walked the Met Gala red carpet too, as she looked like a Hollywood screen siren in a shimmering gold gown paired with long black gloves and gold sunglasses.
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We can’t wait for the 2023 Met Gala looks, as the event will take place in just a few hours. The upcoming theme, Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty, will honor Karl Lagerfeld, the iconic Chanel artistic director following his death in 2019.
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Vogue revealed in January that the Met Gala’s 2023 hosts are Penélope Cruz, Michaela Coel, Roger Federer, Dua Lipa and Anna Wintour, who will also serve as the night’s official co-chairs.
