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There are few women in history whose looks capture the spirit of a nation in a certain moment.
Among them are Queen Elizabeth II with her diamond diadem, otherwise known as the George IV State Diadem; Egypt’s Queen Nefertiti with her angled, cylindrical blue crown and kohl eyeliner, and Marilyn Monroe, with her wavy blond bob, beauty spot and lazy right eye which defined ’50s Hollywood glamour.
Such is Monroe’s legacy that the Los Angeles city council recently named her Brentwood home a historic cultural monument and the tech investor Anthony Jabin bought a burial crypt next to the star’s grave for $195,000.
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Those looking to further explore the Monroe mystique can delve into “Marilyn Monroe Style,” (ACC Art Books) by Terry Newman. In the book, which is set for release Oct. 28, Newman looks at the actress’ fashion, and the impact she continues to have 62 years after her death.
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Monroe was a point of fascination for many designers, including Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Emilio Pucci and Salvatore Ferragamo, “but she wasn’t known for her high-fashion looks. She very much trod her own path and that really resonates with people,” says the author, who researched and wrote the book with permission from Monroe’s estate.
“She wasn’t just following trends, but defining a look for herself,” adds Newman, a senior lecturer at Regent’s University London.
Pucci was one of her favorite labels, and she bought pieces by the armful, according to Newman. Those pieces included boat-neck dresses and tops in tangerine and lime shades, as well as geometric-patterned boxy shirting.
In her last moments before her death, she wore Pucci on a weekend visit to see her friends Frank Sinatra and pianist Buddy Greco at Cal Neva Lodge in Lake Tahoe.
Monroe was buried wearing a plain lawn-green silk Pucci shift dress that she treasured. The burial took place at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park with her favorite Judy Garland song, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” playing.
The actress owned the ruby Salvatore Ferragamo slippers that Garland wore in “The Wizard of Oz.” In 1999, the brand bought them back for $48,000 during an auction at Christie’s and they are now part of the Ferragamo house archive.
Although Ferragamo never met Monroe, he said that “under her glittering exterior she is often essentially a homebody loving the simple things of life.” He defended her character by saying that “the Venus is often misunderstood. People accuse her of too much luxury-loving and frivolity.”
Newman would agree. While researching the book, Newman discovered that Monroe had very few clothes that but those she did own spoke volumes about what she was like as a child; what she was fascinated by, and how she matured.
The author argues that off-screen, Monroe was modest and dressed as Norma Jeane Mortenson (her real name) rather than as the “sweet angel of sex,” as her biographer Norman Mailer described her.
“When she was older, she didn’t go out and splash on masses and masses of clothes. Her wardrobe was quite minimal and she stuck to the same things. She didn’t have a stylist – she created her own looks and mesmerized the world with them – and is still doing that,” says Newman.
Monroe found comfort in her sweaters and cardigans. She owned three identically designed sweaters in black, white and beige wool from Geist & Geist, a manufacturer of women’s knitwear.
In her unfinished autobiography “My Story,” Monroe wrote that “one morning, both my white blouses were torn, and I would be late for school if I stopped to fix them. I asked one of my ‘sisters’ in the house if she could loan me something to wear. She was my age, but smaller. She loaned me a sweater. I arrived at school [and] everybody stared at me as if I had suddenly grown two heads, which in a way I had. They were under my tight sweater.”
Monroe did love a cozy knit.
When George Barris photographed Monroe on Santa Monica Beach in the summer of 1962, she was wearing a handmade Mexican Cowichan-style cardigan that she bought in Mexico.
It’s also one of the few items of clothing that captures the essence of the private, off-screen Monroe.
That cardigan has influenced popular culture and fashion ever since. Steven McQueen wore an iteration of the intarsia knitted cardigan in “Starsky & Hutch”; Jeff Bridges had his own version in “The Big Lebowski”; and Max Mara borrowed the cardigan for its fall 2015 collection and advertising campaign that featured Gigi Hadid as a Monroe type, sitting on a brown sofa with her legs folded and hair tousled.
Clearly her simplicity endures, perhaps even more than the sparkly dress designed by Jean Louis that Monroe wore to sing “Happy Birthday” to President Kennedy in 1962, just a few months before her death.