Marilyn Monroe’s Most Iconic Pink Dress Is Getting the Barbie Treatment
By Alexus Mosley
More than seven decades after Marilyn Monroe slipped into a shocking-pink gown with a matching opera glove and enough diamonds to make Lorelei Lee very happy in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The iconic look is getting another life, but this time in miniature.
Mattel has released a new Marilyn Monroe Barbie Signature doll in celebration of what would have been the Hollywood icon’s 100th birthday. Created with input from the Estate of Marilyn Monroe, the doll recreates Monroe’s famous look from the 1953 film’s “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” number, complete with the strapless pink gown, oversized bow, matching gloves and sparkling jewels. The $81 collector doll was released on August 18.
Photo Credit: Mattel
Costume designer William Travilla created the now-famous gown for Monroe’s performance. However, it wasn’t the original plan. An earlier costume for the musical number was considerably more revealing, but after controversy surrounding Monroe’s pre-fame nude calendar photographs resurfaced during production, the studio wanted something less provocative. Travilla’s replacement was the deceptively simple pink gown we know today.
Simple, yet far from underwhelming, the strapless column created an uninterrupted sweep of saturated pink, while the matching belt emphasized Monroe’s waist. The enormous bow provided drama from behind, and the opera-length gloves extended the color nearly to her fingertips. Travilla even changed an early plan for black gloves and shoes in favor of matching pink accessories. Then come the diamonds. Against all that pink, the glittering jewelry becomes impossible to miss. Which, considering the song she’s performing, is precisely the point.
Photo Credit: 20th Century Fox
This isn’t actually Marilyn’s first trip to the Barbie aisle, or even the first time Mattel has recreated this particular moment. The toy company previously released a Marilyn doll wearing a version of the pink Gentlemen Prefer Blondes look in 1997 as part of its Hollywood Legends Collection. The new centennial release is reportedly the seventh Barbie created in Monroe’s likeness.
Barbie herself functions as a kind of miniature fashion archive, so when Mattel chooses to recreate a historical celebrity look decades later, the clothes become part of how that person’s image is preserved and introduced to another generation. And few wardrobes lend themselves to that treatment quite like Marilyn’s. Seventy-three years later, it can be reduced to doll size without losing an ounce of its identity.
Maybe that’s the ultimate test of an iconic look.