The Dark Truth Behind Marilyn Monroe’s White Dress
America fell in love with the dress…except for her husband, Joe DiMaggio.
On September 15, 1955, at 1:00 am, Marilyn Monroe stood over a subway grate between Lexington Avenue and Fifty-Second Street, waiting for a gust of wind to do the unthinkable.
Once the breeze blew up Marilyn’s dress, she cooed in her little girl's voice, “Isn’t it delicious.”
The 5000 fans watching certainly thought so. The crowd’s catcalls and whistles became so loud that Marilyn could barely hear the director’s cues.
Marilyn was filming for her movie, The Seven Year Itch — an American romantic comedy about a husband tempted to cheat with his beguiling neighbor. Marilyn plays the seductive neighbor — a blonde, busty model on a toothpaste tour who is only referred to as “the Girl.” The movie and her character are hardly remembered, but the dress…the dress is still the most recognizable dress in Hollywood today.
It was an ivory-colored halter-top dress that crisscrossed her waist and flowed into hand-sewn knife pleats. When the subway’s hot air blew her skirts up, the delicate material billowed around Marilyn’s body like molten liquid.
