Marilyn Monroe models the costume originally designed by Billy Travilla for the “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend” number in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The publicity surrounding the recent discovery that Marilyn posed nude in 1949 for the “Velvet Dreams” calendar rendered this particular costume too revealing. The pink gown worn in the film, also designed by Travilla, was a last minute replacement.
Marilyn Monroe in a publicity photo for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). Photo by John Florea
Marilyn Monroe in a publicity photo for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). Photo by John Florea
Marilyn Monroe in a publicity still for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by John Florea (1953)
Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
↳ “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend”
Jayne Mansfield at the premiere of The Spirit of St. Louis (1957) sporting the same Travilla gold lamé evening gown that Marilyn Monroe had originally worn (briefly) four years prior in the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). Marilyn also wore the dress in the famous publicity portrait of her (pictured, bottom right), and at the 1953 Photoplay Magazine Awards. Back in studio days, it wasn’t uncommon for clothing and costumes to be borrowed, altered, and re-worn by other stars. Both ladies worked for 21st Century Fox, and despite clear differences in the dresses, primarily in the bustline and waist areas, it’s highly plausible that these are indeed the same dress.
“Sometimes the photographers would pose me in a low-necked nightgown and tell me to bend down and pick up the pails. They were not shooting the pails.”
- Jane Russell
Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
“Tiffany’s! Cartier! Black Starr! Frost Gorham! Talk to me Harry Winston, tell me all about it!”
