Holly Willoughby defends Kim Kardashian causing 'permanent damage' to Marilyn Monroe dress

This Morning weighed into the raging debate over whether Kim Kardashian should have worn Marilyn Monroe’s iconic bejewelled dress to the Met Gala.

This comes after a Marilyn Monroe collector claimed that “permanent damage” has been done to the iconic Monroe wore to serenade John F Kennedy on his 45th birthday.

Photographs taken last week by collector Scott Fortner appeared to show stretched and buckled fabric as well as missing crystals along the back zip of the dress.

This Morning hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield sat down with Matthew Wright and Nick Ferrari on Wednesday to address the controversy

Holly told ITV viewers: “ Kim Kardashian has been criticised for causing permanent damage to the dress.”

“So it seems like they were careful.” (ITV)

She then added: “We should point out she literally wore it from one red carpet to the other, at which point got changed and wore a replica, which she partied the night away in.

“So it seems like they were careful.”

Holly then later added that it “was nice to see it again” after the dress had been kept in a museum for so long.

While Matthew was torn on the dress being worn on the Met Gala red carpet, Nick Ferrari similarly defended the decision.

A Marilyn Monroe collector claimed that “permanent damage” has been done (ITV)

He said: “We’ve just had the Jubilee weekend. We thrilled to the sight of a Lancaster, a World War II bomber, flying over London skies.

“Down at race tracks you can race vintage Ferraris, Maseratis, Aston Martins.

“It’s a dress. Dresses are designed to be worn. Holly and Phillip, you both said it was very carefully worn from one end of the catwalk to the other.

“So, they’ve got to stick a few sequins back on it. Dresses are meant to be worn.”

“So, they’ve got to stick a few sequins back on it. Dresses are meant to be worn.” (ITV)

The dress’s owner Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Said at the time that “great care was taken to preserve this piece of pop culture history”.

A representative added: “With input from garment conservationists, appraisers, and archivists, the garment’s condition was top priority … no alterations were to be made to the dress and Kim even changed into a replica after the red carpet!⁠”

Kim underwent an extreme weight-loss regime to squeeze into the dress, which involved a sugar and carbohydrate-free diet, running on the treadmill and wearing a sauna suit twice a day.

This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV and ITV Hub.