July 29, 2026

A Look at Marilyn Monroe’s Iconic Fashion

Blog Cover photo by BERNARD OF HOLLYWOOD
Marilyn Monroe™; Rights of Publicity and Persona Rights are used with permission of The Estate of Marilyn Monroe LLC.

Close your eyes and picture Marilyn Monroe. Chances are you’re not picturing a specific film scene or a line of dialogue—you’re picturing a look. Platinum waves. Red lips. Maybe the now infamous white halter dress billowing up over a subway grate.

Marilyn Monroe stands outdoors, wearing a white dress with the skirt blown upward by a breeze from a sewer grate. The scene is iconic and associated with Marilyn Monroe in the film the Seven Year Itch. — *Marilyn Monroe by Sam Shaw*

That’s the power of Marilyn Monroe’s fashion. More than six decades after her death, her style is still one of the most recognizable visual languages in pop culture. You could show her silhouette to someone who’s never seen a single one of her movies, and odds are they’d still know exactly who they were looking at.

That’s a pretty remarkable thing for a wardrobe to pull off. Most movie-star style fades with the decade it came from. Marilyn’s didn’t. It has become a kind of visual vocabulary that fashion, film, and art have been borrowing from ever since.

It’s also the perfect entry point into BalletMet’s upcoming production. Marilyn, a full-length ballet that tells her life story from childhood all the way through stardom. Before you see it, let’s take a look at what made her fashion so iconic in the first place, and how the show’s costume design brings that legacy to life on stage.

What Made Marilyn Monroe’s Fashion So Iconic?

Marilyn’s style wasn’t one look. Early in her career, she was America’s girl-next-door pin-up: soft curls, gingham, and easy smiles. By the time she hit her peak fame in the 1950s, she’d transformed into Hollywood’s ultimate bombshell featuring fitted gowns, halter necklines, and the kind of tailoring that seemed engineered to define an era of glamour.

And “engineered” isn’t far off. Marilyn was famously hands-on with her image, working closely with the people who dressed her rather than just showing up for a fitting. That collaborative relationship is a big part of why her looks still feel so intentional today.

A smiling man in a light suit helps a woman in a dark patterned evening gown with a coat as she smiles toward the camera against a draped studio backdrop. — *William Travilla (left) and Marilyn Monroe courtesy of Getty Images*

A lot of that magic came from costume designer William Travilla, known simply as Travilla, who worked with 20th Century Fox and became the mind behind many of Marilyn’s most unforgettable film wardrobes. His work built a visual identity that’s still being referenced today.

What set Travilla’s designs apart was the way they used structure to create ease. His gowns look effortless on screen, but underneath, they were built with serious engineering that often included boning, draping, and tailoring designed to skim the body in exactly the right places and catch the light just so under studio cameras.

The Looks Everyone Recognizes

A few Marilyn Monroe fashion moments have become so iconic they’ve basically become shorthand for old Hollywood glamour itself:

The white halter dress from The Seven Year Itch (1955): The subway grate scene is arguably one of the most recognizable moments in film history. A single gust of wind and a swirl of white fabric turned into an image that’s been referenced, recreated, and parodied endlessly.
The hot pink strapless gown from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953): Worn during her show-stopping performance of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” complete with a dramatic bow at the back, this dress is pure Technicolor spectacle.
The “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” gown (1962): Nude, skin-tight, and covered in over 6,000 rhinestones, this dress was famously sewn directly onto Marilyn’s body. It’s since sold for record-breaking prices at auction and made headlines again decades later when it hit the red carpet on someone else entirely.

Each of these looks reads instantly, even in silhouette. It’s the mark of genuinely great costume design. Odds are you could picture each of these outfits even without us having to include a photo!

Beyond the Screen: Her Everyday Style

Marilyn’s off-duty wardrobe told a quieter story. Capri pants, crisp button-downs, and a headscarf knotted under the chin. The contrast between the on- and off-camera persona is part of what made her so fascinating to the public. It’s also a main theme BalletMet’s production leans into directly: the difference between the icon everyone thought they knew and the woman underneath.

Side-by-side color portraits of Marilyn Monroe seated outdoors, one leaning against a tree in a floral skirt and the other against a rock wall in a light-colored outfit. — *Marilyn Monroe by Milton H. Greene.*

Marilyn Monroe’s Lasting Influence on Fashion and Pop Culture

Marilyn’s fashion hasn’t stayed frozen in the past. Old Hollywood glamour resurfaces on red carpets every awards season, and her silhouette is still a reference point for designers decades later.

The clearest recent example was when, in 2022, Kim Kardashian wore the actual “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” dress to the Met Gala. It sparked a massive cultural conversation about fashion history, preservation, and what it means to “wear” an icon rather than just reference one.

Kim Kardashian in a rhinestone-covered champagne-colored gown and white fur stole poses on a red carpet with photographers in the background. — *Kim Kardashian courtesy of Getty Images*

Marilyn’s image has also long since crossed over from fashion into fine art. Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych, created in 1962 shortly after her death, turned her look into one of the most recognizable pieces of pop art in the world.

Between Warhol’s prints and enduring red-carpet influence, Marilyn’s looks have become a permanent cultural shorthand, showing up everywhere from movies and music videos to Halloween costumes every October. Few celebrities from any era, let alone one that ended in the early 1960s, have that kind of staying power.

A grid of Marilyn Monroe portraits: the left half features colorful, bold images with orange backgrounds, while the right half displays monochromatic images in varying shades of gray. — *Andy Warhol’s ‘Marilyn Diptych’*

How BalletMet’s Marilyn Brings Her Fashion to Life on Stage

Marilyn is a new full-length ballet choreographed by Dani Rowe, Artistic Director of Oregon Ballet Theatre, and it’s a co-production between BalletMet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, and Tulsa Ballet. It arrives in Columbus at the Davidson Theatre, October 16–24, 2026, with an original score by composer Shannon Rugani.

The ballet tells Marilyn’s story chronologically, starting with her childhood as Norma Jeane and following her all the way through her rise to stardom. But this isn’t just a dance retelling of a movie star’s greatest hits. As Rowe puts it, the goal is to explore “that line between image and reality, performance or truth.” In the production, we see the glitz and glamour of Marilyn’s fame set against the vulnerability of the woman behind it.

Certainly! Here’s an alternative text description: A theatrical stage image split in two. On the left, a person in a glamorous pink outfit stands dramatically under bright red lighting with others in darker attire watching. Text reads: "The Superstar" and "What the world saw." On the right, a person in a checkered dress reaches towards a portrait under blue lighting. Text reads: "Norma Jeane" and "The emotional core of the ballet. — *Dancers Jessica Lind and Brian Simcoe*
*Photos by Jingzi Zhao courtesy of Oregon Ballet Theatre*

The idea for this ballet was actually sparked by that 2022 Met Gala appearance of the “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” dress. A conversation between Rowe and costume designer Emma Kingsbury about that very moment planted the seed for the entire production.

The story doesn’t unfold as a simple highlight reel, either. The Mairlyn ballet follows an older Norma Jeane, her mother, her psychoanalyst, and several of the men who shaped her life and public narrative, including her early husband and a composite character representing the Kennedys.

Meet the Costume Designer: Emma Kingsbury

Emma Kingsbury serves as both costume and set designer for Marilyn, and fashion is central to how she’s helping tell this story. Her stated goal has been to pay homage to William Travilla, the original designer behind Marilyn’s most iconic film looks.

As Kingsbury explains it, these designs live “in this world of iconography, and the cult of celebrity.” Most will be instantly recognizable to audiences the moment they hit the stage. She worked alongside Portland-based couture expert Adam Arnold, who helped cut and drape some of the most iconic recreated looks, ensuring they hold up to the same level of detail fans would expect from the real thing.

The image shows three fashion illustrations of a well-known celebrity. Each illustration features a different outfit: a blue polka dot dress, a bright pink off-the-shoulder gown, and a white halter dress. They are displayed against a red curtain background, with each outfit accompanied by a chalkboard listing "Scene" and "Act" details. — *‘Marilyn’ Costume Sketches courtesy of Emma Kingsbury*

The Art (and Engineering) of Dancing in Iconic Gowns

Recreating a 1950s Hollywood gown is one challenge. Making it dance is a completely different story.

Ballet costuming has to do double duty. It needs to look period-accurate while still allowing dancers full range of motion for extensions, arabesques, and lifts. Take the hot pink “Diamonds” gown as an example.

A performer in a vibrant pink outfit stands center stage with arms raised dramatically. They are surrounded by dancers in tuxedos, also reaching upward. The background is illuminated in red, creating a striking contrast. — *Dancer Jessica Lind*
*Photo by Blaine Truitt Covert courtesy of Oregon Ballet Theatre*

To keep that iconic fitted, trumpet-style silhouette while still letting the dancer achieve a full arabesque line, Kingsbury added a godet, a triangular piece of fabric inserted into the seam. It’s a small technical solution, but it’s the kind of detail that lets the costume help to tell the story instead of getting in the way of it.

Why This Matters for BalletMet Audiences

If you’re newer to ballet, you don’t need to know a single step of choreography to appreciate this show. Fashion is one of the most accessible ways into Marilyn. Even if the names Travilla or Kingsbury are new to you, we can almost guarantee that you’ll recognize these looks the second they appear on stage.

Watching fashion history actually move is something film and photography simply can’t replicate. The costuming and set design carry a huge amount of the narrative visually, so if you’ve never seen a ballet before, this is a genuinely welcoming place to start.

Tickets for Marilyn go on sale August 1, 2026. Head to BalletMet.org to learn more about the production, get show times, and grab your seats before opening night.

Final Thoughts: Marilyn Monroe’s Fashion Legacy, On and Off the Stage

Marilyn Monroe’s fashion has outlived her by decades because it always did more than look good. It told a story about glamour, vulnerability, and reinvention. BalletMet’s Marilyn continues that same tradition, using costume design to dig into who she really was underneath the image the world fell in love with.

This October, you can watch that story unfold in real time from October 16-24, one iconic gown at a time. We’ll see you at the Davidson Theatre!

Marilyn Monroe™; Rights of Publicity and Persona Rights are used with permission of The Estate of Marilyn Monroe LLC.

MARILYN IS A COLLABORATION BETWEEN BALLETMET, OREGON BALLET THEATRE, AND TULSA BALLET.