| A piece of pop culture history may be forever altered, and people are blaming Kim Kardashian.
It all started on Monday when The Marilyn Monroe Collection – the official Instagram account for the world's largest private collection of Monroe's personal property and archives – shared photos of a dress.
From Happy Birthday to The Met Gala
The crystal-embellished gown was famously worn by Monroe while singing Happy Birthday, Mr President to John F Kennedy in 1962.
Following Monroe's death three months later, the dress was preserved as part of her collection. It first sold at auction in 1999 for over a million dollars. It then sold for $4.8 million at Julien's Auctions in 2016 to the Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum.
Sixty years later, the dress – which holds the record for being the most expensive dress sold at auction – was worn for a second time.
Kim Kardashian stunned the world when she stepped out in the gown for the 2022 Met Gala, celebrating In America: An Anthology of Fashion.
"I'm extremely respectful to the dress and what it means to American history," Kardashian told Vogue in May. "Everything had to be specifically timed, and I had to practice walking up the stairs."
The Skims founder was so respectful that she reportedly switched into a replica of the dress immediately after walking the red carpet.
From perfect condition to damaged goods
After Kardashian's night out in Monroe's dress, the piece of American history was put on display at Ripley's Believe It or Not! Hollywood.
Fans quickly noticed that the dress did not appear to be in the condition it once was. "So much for keeping 'the integrity of the dress and the preservation.' Ripley's Believe it or Not, was it worth it?" reads the caption alongside a photo of the dress taken on 12 June 2022.
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