Glamorous, lavish and ultimately iconic, Marilyn Monroe marked fashion with her unique and irreplaceable aura. A fashion and pop icon that embodied more than femininity!
Glamor at will in her satin dresses, casual and elegant in a plain white button down shirt and dark washed blue jeans. Marilyn Monroe had something to inject into any room – a dose of unprecedented sophistication. Sensuality, too!
In 1999, Playboy magazine named her the sexiest woman of the century.
Marilyn Monroe, Epitome Of Glamor
Platinum blonde hair, carmine lipstick and flawless curves; Marilyn Monroe took turns dictating the fashion of the 1950s, and imposed a sort of aesthetic code for the red carpet. Code which, for the moment, remains in force.
The Red Carpet Style, A La Monroe
A satin gold dress. Deep V neckline. Opera gloves. Stole of fur and shimmering jewelry.
Marilyn constantly was taken in photos by paparazzi or by the most legendary fashion photographers. She was capable of inspiring others in more than one way of life. When asked what she wore to go to bed, she replied: “a few drops of Chanel N ° 5. It didn’t take much to inspire other women to adopt it.
Marilyn Monroe’s style is the epitome of glamor.
Monroe was undoubtedly the queen of evening dresses. Always daring with a dress up game – her languid attitude echoed with the prettiness of her satins, her asymmetrical dresses, and her devastating outfits. It must be said that Marilyn has largely contributed to forging the image of the Hollywood actress – nonchalant, sexy and incredibly distinguished!
The Marilyn Monroe-style red carpet has become a school. Dress close to the body, often without straps. Half smile and look sideways. Monroe was not afraid to show a little skin and was never vulgar. Her aesthetics became a legend in fashion.
Her mermaid dresses, sometimes low-cut at the heart, are legends. Proof if only one was needed, this flesh-colored dress, hand-embroidered with 2,500 crystals, cut for its shapes. This same dress that she wore to hum Happy Birthday to the then president, John F. Kennedy in 1962, from Madison Square Garden.
This same dress flew to $ 4.8 million during an auction in 2016.
Marilyn Monroe’s red carpet style was indeed made for her. This eminently coveted dress was sewn directly on the legendary actress.
But Marilyn Monroe also knew how to transform any sober room into an epitome of glamor!
A pair of jeans, and Irish sweaters.
Marilyn Monroe: Glamor, Always
Because it is also in simplicity that Marilyn Monroe reveals all her aura. Her glamour is not to be read in the work of such and such a designer, but indeed in his own way of being, of standing and ultimately living.
So, how can we forget, in the film Le Milliardaire, this scene where Marilyn Monroe appears wearing a purple Irish sweater, and nothing but a black tights! Simple and unexpected, the silhouette marked the spirits, gfashion, and that of women.
Able to inject a high dose of glamor and chic into the most banal of clothes – Marilyn Monroe was not at her first try.
Monroe was photographed at home, wearing a simple black turtleneck sweater and white cigarette pants. Enthroning a silhouette of timeless elegance.
On the set of the film The Misfits, she was photographed in blue jeans and a white shirt – is this not the casual uniform of Elegant Americans
No matter what Marilyn Monroe is wearing, she makes it glam! She thus overshadowed entire films with her only silhouettes, sometimes theatrical, often of episcopal simplicity. She set the stage for the coming cultural revolution, with the same strength as Marlon Brando.
William Travilla, designer for the Hollywood studio Twentieth Century Fox, said it precisely in 1954, during an interview for Life magazine: “Marilyn has the most fantastically perfect figure in the world. No matter how you dress her, she looks sexy. “
Marilyn Monroe, Men Prefer Blondes
She wore Ferragamo pumps, her favorite shoe. She wore Louis Vuitton bags, donned the creations of Lanvin, Dior and Emilio Pucci. In fact, it was a green dress designed by Pucci, that she chose to be buried in.
The Marilyn Dresses
No one can forget the dresses worn by Marilyn Monroe in her films. How can you miss the pink satin dress from the movie Les Hommes preferent les blondes?
The Marilyn dresses are all sexy and beautiful and theatrical! Real fashion pieces which, on closer inspection, are all made by Oscar-winning costume designers. Jean Louis, Orry Kelly and William Travilla dressed Monroe in almost eight of his films
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Nobody can yet forget the mythical white pleated dress that swelled up with the passage of the metro. On the set of the film Seven Years of Reflection, the images taken that night continue to be among the most reproduced in history.
Marilyn Monroe is not the queen of pop culture for nothing. Because beyond creating timeless and unforgettable looks in the 1950s – Marilyn’s ability to dress according to her desires made her a fashion visionary.
Diamonds And Marilyn
Because far from the image of diamond cruncher that she portrays for the film Men prefer blondes, Marilyn essentially wore costume jewelry.
Certainly, she largely contributed to spreading the reputation of the diamond dealer Harry Winston , by singing “Talk to me Harry Winston!” Tell me all about it! From New York, London, Paris, Geneva to Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai, the name Harry Winston is on everyone’s lips!
Admittedly, we have seen him wear the Moon of Baroda more than once. This ancestral diamond, canary yellow over 24 carats, was bought by Meyer Rosenbaum of Detroit, president of the Meyer Jewelry Company, who gave it to him. She wore it for the filming of the song Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend, as well as in the film Men prefer blondes.
But now, Marilyn Monroe wore it especially to promote her films.
She often borrowed diamonds from jewelers, and then returned them. She herself had very little jewelry. Among them, her necklace of 44 Akoya cultured pearls with platinum and diamond clasp. A gift received in 1954 by her husband Joe Di Maggio.
Among them again, a Blancpain cocktail watch. Piece made in the 1930s, again offered to Marilyn Monroe by her third husband, the writer Arthur Miller.
Crafted in platinum and paved with 71 round diamonds and two marquise-cut diamonds, it reflects the glamour of Marilyn Monroe – refined, and magnificent!
And the numerous photographs of Marilyn Monroe attest to this rare balance.
Marilyn Monroe, The Last Sitting
A regular in fashion magazines, Marilyn Monroe posed in front of the lens of the most legendary photographers. Like that of Cecil Beaton, official photographer of the royal family of England.
Thus, we particularly remember two iconic editorials. The first is that of Richard Avedon. Without doubt the truest images of actress Monroe.
“For hours, she danced, sang, flirted and played to be herself, to be Marilyn Monroe. And then there was the inevitable fall. And when the night was over, when the white wine was finished and the dance ended, she sat in a corner like a child, empty. I saw her sit quietly, expressionless on her face, and walked over to her, but I didn’t want to photograph her without her knowledge. And as I arrived with the device, I saw that she was not saying no… ”
The second is due to Bert Stern. ‘The Last Sitting’, made for Vogue in 1962, is indeed Marilyn’s last. She committed suicide a few days later.
This shoot is iconic in many ways. And Marilyn is there the epitome of glamor, in a Dior dress and fancy jewelry. As she loved them. In these images, she plays mischievously with these necklaces. And it enhances the film with everything that has fascinated the world. Her elegance, her detachment, her sincerity.
As a pop icon, she was everywhere! This is why, at her death in August 1962, Andy Warhol decided to paint ‘Marilyn Diptych’. By copying the same image several times he evokes his presence and her eternal influence!
In the 90s, Versace again signed a double tribute. The synthesis of art and life that Marilyn and Warhol represented freezes on dresses. The association of James Dean and Marilyn Monroe is like the emblem of Pop Art, the emblem of art that touched everyone.
Presented at the Versace fashion show in 1991, carried on the podium by Naomi Campbell; photographed in the press on Linda Evangelista by Irving Penn, this dress had in turn entered the history of fashion, since it is at the MET Museum in New York.
Finally, we can see all the impact that Marilyn Monroe had on the arts and fashion. An impact that is still very palpable today, as Marilyn Monroe has embodied a devilishly sexy vision of glamour and elegance. A vision of women less constrained, and certainly freer!
