On May 19, 1962, Marilyn Monroe wore a legendary dress to sing a sultry rendition of “Happy Birthday” at President John F. Kennedy’s 45th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden.
That dress is now estimated to bring $2-3 million when it goes up for sale in November at Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles.
Julien’s Auctions is offering the sequined garment on 17 November in Los Angeles. The auction house believes it could fetch as much as $3m (2.7m Euros).
The dress was so form-fitting that Marylin had to be sewn into it. During her performance, Monroe shed her white ermine coat before an audience of 15,000 guests to reveal a custom Jean Louis “barely there” dress. The garment—nude colored, backless, and covered in 6,000 hand-sewn rhinestones—was so scandalous that even she called it “skin and beads.”
The gown, made of silk gauze, originally cost Monroe around $12,000. Thirty-seven years later, in 1999, it set a record for a single item of clothing sold at auction when it was hammered down for $1.27 million at Christie’s.
Marilyn Monroe died less than three months later of an overdose of sleeping pills. Kennedy died the following year.