Fashion designer Bob Mackie is NOT happy with Kim Kardashian.  The 82-year-old who designed Marilyn Monroe’s iconic ‘Happy Birthday, Mr. President’ gown tells Entertainment Weekly that Kim wearing the gown to the 2022 Met Gala was a ‘big mistake.’

 

 

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“[Marilyn] was a goddess. A crazy goddess, but a goddess. She was just fabulous. Nobody photographs like that. And it was done for her. It was designed for her.  Nobody else should be seen in that dress,” he says.  Bob designed the crystal-covered gauze gown design for Jean Louis in 1962, which was worn by Marilyn less than three months before her death.

 


 

Kim told Vogue in order to fit in Marilyn’s dress, she had to lose 16 pounds in three weeks, “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.”  The gown, which was flown via private plane from Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum in Orlando, did not fit Kim and couldn’t be altered.

 

“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.  Everything had to be specifically timed and I had to practice walking up the stairs,” Kim explained.

 

 

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Before changing into a replica, Kim only wore Marilyn’s dress while walking the red carpet, and still managed to upset a lot of people.  Dr. Justin De Young, professor of fashion history at the Fashion Institute of Technology told PEOPLE, “Kim’s the look was irresponsible and unnecessary.  She can –– and did –– commission a replica which would be indistinguishable from the original.  Such an iconic piece of American history should not be put at risk of damage just for an ego-boost and photo-op.”

 

 

Marilyn historian and collector Scott Fortner explained to PEOPLE that ‘Marilyn wanted the dress to be totally unique to her,’ “When Marilyn knew she’d be performing at President John F. Kennedy’s birthday gala she contacted Louis and said, ‘I want you to design a truly historical dress, a dazzling dress that’s one of a kind.’ She asked that it be a dress that, ‘only Marilyn Monroe could wear.'”

 

 

“Marilyn stood nude as the fabric for the dress was literally sculpted to her body to precisely match every curve. The fabric, which is a flesh-colored soufflé gauze imported from France, was layered strategically so she wouldn’t need to wear undergarments.  The dress fit Marilyn perfectly. The gown worn by anyone else will not be a precise fit. In this case, Kim Kardashian’s measurements are somewhat different than Marilyn’s. It’s logically assumed the fabric and seams were stressed,” Scott continued.  Ripley’s purchased the dress for $4.81 million in 2016.

 

Following the Met, Kim wore another Marilyn original – the emerald sequin Norman Norell dress that was worn to the Golden Globes in 1962.  “The idea really came to me after the gala in September last year.  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,” Kim told Vogue.

 

 

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