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Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Kit Roberts

Kim Kardashian given lock of Marilyn Monroe's hair before donning Met Gala dress

Kim Kardashian was gifted a lock of Marilyn Monroe's hair before wearing the icon's historic dress.

The social media star made fashion history at the Met Gala, becoming the first person other than Marilyn Monroe to wear the original 'naked' dress.

Kim Kardashian turned heads at the gala after she wore the "Happy Birthday Mr President" dress, a piece of clothing which is synonymous with Monroe.

But before donning the gown, Kim realised that the dress was not the only part of Marilyn Monroe's legacy she would see that day.

In a video posted to the Instagram page of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not museum, which owns the dress, Kim can be seen opening a small present given to her by staff.

Kim Kardashian wore the gown to the Met Gala (Photo by Gotham/Getty Images)

The social media icon was left speechless when she realised that it was a lock of Marilyn Monroe's famous blonde hair.

She said: "Oh my god I’m literally going to do some crazy voodoo s**t and channel her. This is so special to me. Thank you so much, this is so cool."

Turning to boyfriend Pete Davidson, she added: "This is sleeping with me every night… sorry babe."

In a caption on the Instagram post, Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum said: "During @KimKardashian ’s Met Gala dress fitting at Ripley's Believe It or Not! HQ, our team surprised her with a silver box that contained an actual lock of Marilyn’s iconic platinum hair.⁠

⁠"The Ripley’s team also filled her Met Gala dressing room with a trove of Marilyn Monroe and JFK memorabilia to help inspire her look.⁠"

Kim was gifted the lock of Marilyn Monroe's hair (@ripleysbelieveitornot / Instagram)
Kim tried on Marilyn's dress (Instagram)

The gown is estimated to be worth a whopping $4.8 million, and Kim only wore the original garment for ten minutes to make sure that it was not damaged, before changing into a replica.

Some said that her look at the Met Gala was one of the best she has ever done.

But others criticised Kim Kardashian, saying that she was "not worthy" of wearing the garment due to the incredible history associated with it.

Experts argued that the gown was extremely fragile, and as such should not have been worn in public at all, not even for the ten minutes Kim wore it.

The dress worn by Marilyn Monroe when she sang "Happy Birthday Mr. President" to US President John F. Kennedy in May 1962, is displayed in a glass enclosure at Julien's Auction House in Los Angeles, California (Getty)

Other worry that it sets a bad precedent for how historic costumes are treated in future, saying that this will be bad for conserving other garments which celebrities could take an interest in wearing.

The dress became part of history when Monroe wore it to a fundraising event at Madison Square Garden, ten days before John F Kennedy’s 45th birthday.

The legendary actress and singer removed her fur coat to reveal the shimmering dress underneath.

She then gave the iconic performance of "Happy Birthday Mr President" in the famous seductive and breathy tone which has become one of the most widely known performances of any song.

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