LOS ANGELES (AFP) - An avid Marilyn Monroe fan Wednesday criticized a private museum that owns a famous dress of the late actress for allowing reality TV star Kim Kardashian to wear it during the "Met Gala 2022" party organized by the Metropolitan Museum in New York last May. This caused "irreparable" damage to it, he said.

Scott Fortner, a collector who runs a website entirely dedicated to Marilyn Monroe, sought proof of his accusations by publishing this week photos of the sparkly beige, crystal-embellished gown Monroe wore when she sang "Happy Birthday Mr. President" to late US President John F. Kennedy in 1962.

The first set of photos shows Marilyn's famous dress as it was before the Met Gala, according to Fortner, while the second set of photos was taken Sunday by a friend of Fortner's at the front of the private "Ripple's" museum in Hollywood, a month after Kardashian appeared in it.
From the comparison of the photos, it appeared that small tears appeared in the fabric of the dress on the back, while on the other side a number of crystal beads were missing or seemed unstable.

The footage and subsequent damage, according to Fortner, to the dress, which was bought by the Ripleys Museum at auction for $ 4.8 million, has sparked widespread criticism on social networks in recent days.

Fortner said on his Instagram account on Wednesday that his blame "is directed at Ripley's, who allowed the dress to be worn."

He added, "If any star had been offered to wear this dress, she would not have missed the opportunity (...). And Kim K. was simply the one who had the opportunity to do so."

"It was Ripley's duty to protect and preserve this historic piece, but he did not. The dress is now damaged beyond repair and would probably have been damaged if" any woman had worn it, Fortner said.

Agence France-Presse on Wednesday did not get any comment from Ripley's on the uproar over the dress.

And the museum had expressed in early May that it was satisfied that Kardashian would wear the "Met Gala" dress that no one had worn since Marilyn Monroe.

On that day, the museum issued a statement confirming that "great care has been taken to preserve this historical piece." He added, "With the help of experts in fashion preservation, archivists, and insurance companies (...) no alterations were made to the dress, and Kim Kardashian wore an exact copy of the dress before participating in the party."

Likewise, Kim Kardashian, who followed a harsh diet in order to be able to wear the historical dress, had no comment on the controversy through her accounts on social networks.