Kim Kardashian channelled Marilyn Monroe at the 2022 Met Gala, with the billionaire shapewear mogul undergoing a 14-hour hair transformation to achieve the late actor’s iconic blonde hair colour.
On Monday 2 May, The Kardashians star, 41, arrived on the red carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art alongside her boyfriend Pete Davidson.
For the Met Gala theme: “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” which encouraged attendees to embrace the dress code “Gilded Glamour,” Kardashian told Vogue she was inspired by Monroe, as she said the model is who she thinks of when she thinks of “American”.
According to Kardashian, this meant wearing the iconic glittering gown that Monroe wore in 1962 to serenade President John F Kennedy on his 45th birthday, which she revealed that she lost 16 pounds to fit into.
The Skims founder also underwent another physical transformation ahead of the exclusive fashion event, as she debuted a platinum blonde hairstyle on the red carpet, just two days after attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner with long black hair.
According to Vogue, which spoke to Kardashian on the Sunday before Monday evening’s Met Gala, the transformation from black to blonde took 14 hours to achieve.
“I’m spending the whole day just dyeing my hair, 14 hours straight,” the reality star admitted while laughing.
However, while speaking with Vogue’s livestream host La La Anthony on the red carpet at the Met Gala, Kardashian revealed that she plans to keep the colour for the foreseeable future. “I’m going to be blonde for a while,” she said.
According to Kardashian’s hairstylist Chris Appleton, while the inspiration was Monroe, he also wanted the KKW Beauty mogul to look like herself on the Met Gala red carpet.
“Marilyn was the idea, but I wanted Kim to look like Kim, not a look alike of Marilyn,” he told PopSugar. “The hair look was simple to highlight the platinum colour with a really simple bun, giving the hair colour and dress the attention.”
The hair transformation was a hit with fans and viewers, who shared their love of Kardashian’s blonde hairstyle on social media. “It is ICONIC. Love her blonde so much,” one person wrote on TikTok, while another said: “Love a platinum blonde Kim.”
While Kardashian chose to wear Monroe’s actual dress on the Met steps, which saw her having to rely on Davidson’s help, she changed into a replica of the iconic gown shortly after, as she noted that she didn’t want to damage the dress.
“I’m extremely respectful to the dress and what it means to American history. I would never want to sit in it or eat in it or have any risk of any damage to it and I won’t be wearing the kind of body makeup I usually do,” she told Vogue, adding that she had to be helped into the dress by a conservationist wearing gloves, and had to “practice walking up the stairs”.
The 60-year-old, multi-million dollar gown is typically stored in a darkened vault, which is kept at 68F and 40 to 50 per cent humidity, at Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum.
