An evening gown owned by Marilyn was sold for $254,000 last week, as part of the annual Hollywood Legends event at Julien’s Auctions. It was originally sold at Christie’s in 1999 for $21,850, so its value has increased more than tenfold over the last 25 years.
The three-quarter length, bias-cut dress is made from black jersey, with asymmetric gathering throughout, a boned bodice, and a black silk taffeta structural fanned applique at from the left hip down to the hem.
Marilyn wore this gown to a party at comedian Bob Hope’s Beverly Hills home on December 16, 1953, accompanied by husband-to-be Joe DiMaggio. Among the guests was William F. Dean, a US Army general who had just appeared on Hope’s television show.
The dress label shows it was designed by Ceil Chapman, who also created the sequinned cocktail dress Marilyn would wear during her 1954 concert tour of American military bases in Korea.
Marilyn had previously mentioned the dress in ‘Am I Daring?’, a July 1952 article for Modern Screen magazine: “My only other new cocktail dress is a black silk by Ceil Chapman which has a big puff at the side and drapes tightly around my legs. I like its slimming effect.”
Interestingly, a duplicate gown was also sold at Christie’s in 1999 as part of a mixed lot (see here.)
A red lace evening gown, designed by John Moore for Talmack, sold for $52,000. Marilyn wore it for a photo shoot with Gene Lester promoting her Saturday Evening Post interview, published in May 1956. She also wore it to the Los Angeles premiere of Gigi on July 10, 1958.
The dress has a tulle-lined, asymmetric flared skirt at the hips, plus built-in bra cups with a conical shape that creates a sweetheart neckline. There were two spaghetti straps but only one strap remains, which has come detached at the back of the bodice. It was directly gifted to the consignor by Anna Strasberg, but is now in fragile condition.
A sheer black tulle heart-print headscarf worn by Marilyn to the christening of John Clark Gable in June 1961 sold for $25,400. (John’s father, Clark Gable, had recently died, so Marilyn and some other guests wore black to the church.)
Among the other Marilyn-related garments sold at Julien’s was an unfinished, custom-made black taffeta cocktail dress ($22,750); a white lace brassiere ($9,525); and an everyday skirt in tan wool, also unfinished ($9,100).
A Marilyn Monroe Productions cheque for $10,000 – made out to Marilyn on November 30, 1959, and signed by the lady herself – fetched $9,100; and her prompt-book for the unfinished Something’s Got to Give (1962) sold for $12,700.
An early 1950s Deardorff camera used by photographer Tom Kelley, plus signed prints from Marilyn’s 1949 nude calendar shoot, sold for $10,400.
And finally, two limited edition prints from Milton Greene’s ‘Black Sitting’ – both signed, numbered, and framed – sold for $2,857.50 (below left) and $1,625 (at right.)
The Marilyn Report 