iAcademy Museum of Motion PicturesMiracle Mile
Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon
Examines how Marilyn Monroe shaped her own public image within the classical studio system, with rare artifacts and screen-worn costumes from Some Like It Hot and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
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The pink satin gown from the "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" number gets a room to itself, still vivid, with Fox's cleaning tag pinned inside. The studio once sold it for $12.
Around it are more than 200 objects from Monroe's career, from Love Happy in 1949 to the unfinished Something's Got to Give in 1962. You meet the costumes first, then the publicity machine: contact sheets showing the frames she picked, letters, and a film montage that includes the subway grate scene. It ends in a recreation of her Brentwood home, with her own furniture. Curator Sophia Serrano's case is that the image was "carefully planned, orchestrated", by Monroe herself.
Time Out gave it four stars. TheWrap found the personal wardrobe "particularly revelatory", though its waist and chin trainers felt "a bit exploitative". It's on level 3, included in museum admission ($25 adults, free for 17 and under), and the museum is closed Tuesdays.
Look for
The pink Travilla gown
The hot pink silk satin strapless gown from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes stands in its own gallery, its color intact, built with boning, felt and horsehair.
The sheer black Some Like It Hot dress
Its lining once held a flesh-colored leotard, and Monroe had it removed, one of the show's examples of her overruling the wardrobe department.
Her contact sheets
Photo contact sheets show which frames Monroe chose herself, the plainest evidence for the show's argument that she ran her own image.
The Brentwood room
The show closes in a recreation of her Brentwood home with her own furnishings, including a teak chair and a Mexican wool tapestry from her trip to Mexico.
The Jax ballet-pink dress
A silk jersey dress with a full chiffon skirt from her own wardrobe, which TheWrap called remarkably modern-looking.
Good for
- First-Timers
- Nerding Out
- Out-Of-Town Guests
Skip if
You want her films more than her clothes: TheWrap calls it essentially a fashion exhibition.
With kids
Ages 17 and under get in free.
Free in the same building
Plan a visit to Academy Museum of Motion PicturesAlso at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
On now nearby
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Image credits
8
- Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood IconCourtesy of Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
- Made in AmericaCourtesy of Petersen Automotive Museum
- Legends of the DirtCourtesy of Petersen Automotive Museum
- Performance & Prestige: A History of Aston MartinCourtesy of Petersen Automotive Museum
- Academy Museum of Motion PicturesDowntowngal / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Petersen Automotive MuseumDavid Zaitz / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)ArchEyes Magazine / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
- Craft ContemporaryPaul Esposito / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain