A Marilyn Monroe Exhibition: Full of smiles, sequins and white teeth

It's hard to believe that the oh so gorgeous Marilyn Monroe has been gone for nearly fifty years now, she died 15th August 1962 at just 36 years old. The beauty has certainly not been forgotten and there have been numerous books written about her, exhibitions, films and even a 26 feet-tall statue made of her in Chicago in her famous subway stance from 'The Seven Year Itch'. 


Now an exhibition to celebrate her life has been put on at the Getty Images Gallery in London. So I suggest you all hop on the train and go and see it. It is just off Oxford Street so after you've spent your whole months salary on those lovely purple peep toes that you've been admiring for two months, you can pop over to the Gallery and ogle at her for at least two hours.


The exhibition contains rare photographs, portraits, original videos, artefacts and the highlight for me is the dresses. Just the thought of seeing these makes me want to run to the station, even though I am still wearing my froggy pyjamas.
There are also some black and white photos of Marilyn with some taken in her early career when she was still a brunette and had the name Norma Jean Baker. Some photographs show Marilyn 'off duty' called 'Marilyn Resting' and 'Marilyn Relaxes', whilst others are of her posing for the camera. In her 'off duty' photos she is relaxed and exudes natural beauty, but she doesn't have her pyjamas on, scraggy hair or is eating a whole tub of ice cream, like most of us are when we are 'off duty'.


Photos include her in London with the yummy Laurence Olivier during filming 'The Prince and the Showgirl' and previously unseen contact sheets of her on the set of 'The Misfits' with the handsome Clark Gable and the sultry Montomgery Clift, that I really don't mind staring at for over an hour, thanks very much Google.

Now to the most exciting and jumping up and down on the spot point, the dresses. This is the first time ever that we have been able to stand for about four hours and admire her dresses.  The mannequins the dresses are placed on have been cut to Marilyn's actual size, well I'm sure its hard to find a dummy with all those curves. You simply cannot miss the divine sequin red dress from 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' and the sparkling costume from 'There's no Business like Show Business'. There is also an exsquisite hand-embroidered ivory satin evening couture gown by Lanvin and Castillo. All the dresses show signs of wear and tear, from missing sequins to slight colour fades and stains to nearly unnoticeable rips all adding to the authenticity, although I doubt you'd be able to wear them for a 2 shots for £1 night out.

This exhibition is a great insight into the stars life and a perfect celebration of it. It runs until the 23rd May and is free to enter, so this is nearly as good as getting 20 Easter eggs at Easter for all you Marilyn fans. If you are unable to hop on the train or in fact a plane you can enjoy some of the pictures and photos of the dresses below, don't say I'm not good to you all.

Now another hour of staring at Montgomery Clift here we come, I love you Google.

Second Hand Rose
XxxX