Jersey puts Marilyn Monroe under the limelight
Jersey Island, spring 2009: the largest collection of articles to be put together from Marilyn Monroe’s original costumes will be exhibited for the first time at the Jersey Museum in St Hélier. These nineteen pieces, all worn by Marilyn and bearing the studio label proving their authenticity, are the property of David Gainsborough-Roberts, the enthusiastic Jersey collector. In an area especially arranged for the exhibit, they shed a different light on Marilyn. Nostalgia, nostalgia...
In the skin of a star
From 1950, when Marilyn had a small part in "The Fireball", to 1961 when she played in "The misfits", she had come a long way and in fact had become a role model for aspiring actresses ! Her first major success was Niagara in 1952: all of her costumes were designed with the idea of accentuating her sensuous curves! Thanks to her cult way of swinging her hips, she even outshined the Niagara Falls, which was supposed to have been the main attraction of this film in Technicolor, during the longest march in the history of cinema! With "Gentlemen prefer blonds", she became the new sex symbol of Hollywood. In this way, Marilyn, went from one success to another. There was "TheSeven Year Itch" – which became famous thanks to the cult scene where her dress starts blowing at a subway entrance - "Bus Stop" in which she wore a green satin dress and a black lace and won the Golden Globe award, or still "Some like it hot", or her black cocktail dress which was so tight that she had to be carried to be able to sit down at the piano!
A movie star immortalized by leading photographers
From this exhibition, we also discover a costume worn in 1958 for a Life Magazine picture taken by Richard Avedon: we should not overlook the fact that Marilyn worked with a number of talented photographers such as Henri-Cartier Bresson, Cecil Beaton, Milton Green, Eve Arnold and even Bert Stern. Last but not least, we can not help but admire a personal evening dress in the collection which was designed by Lanvin and Castillo… Souvenir, souvenir!
