NEW YORK, United States (Reuters) — The skin-tight dress Marilyn Monroe wore for her sultry rendition of “Happy Birthday” before then U.S. President John F. Kennedy at a 1962 gala will go on sale at an auction in November, the company behind the event said on Wednesday (September 07).
Jean Louis designed the dress covered in sequins that Monroe, one of the 20th century’s most famous sex symbols, wore when she shed her fur coat in a splashy entrance at Madison Square Garden in New York.
With its color matching her skin tone, the dress, which was so tight that Monroe had to be sewn into it, gave the impression she was nude.
The breathless performance Monroe gave for Kennedy of the song “Happy Birthday to You” at the May 19, 1962, fundraiser for the Democratic Party 10 days before the president’s actual birthday is remembered for its sultriness and because it was one of her last public appearances; she died of a drug overdose less than three months later.
Beverly Hills-based Julien’s Auctions will offer the dress for sale at an auction on November 17 in Los Angeles.
The late fund manager Martin Zweig bought the dress in 1999 for $1.26 million at a Christie’s auction, said Darren Julien, president and chief executive of of Julien’s. Zweig kept it in a climate-controlled display case mounted on a mannequin. His estate is offering the dress for auction and it is expected to sell for at least $2 million, Julien said.
