Six decades after her death, there is still a global fascination with Marilyn Monroe. Her presence is ubiquitous – the blonde bombshell actress continues to be referenced in films, TV shows, adverts, music videos, and fashion and beauty collections. Her face is emblazoned on countless art pieces, with one portrait selling of Marilyn selling for £157m in May; the sale marked a record for a piece of artwork by any artist in the 20th century.
She is also widely referenced and praised in lots of ‘body positive’ rhetoric as a curvy, plus-sized icon who paved the way for bigger women; her clothing size is often cited as a UK size 16. And while I’m all for the celebration of any and all bodies, this is a myth that needs debunking: with her measurements recorded as 36-24-34, Marilyn might have been around a UK size 10-12 at most.
Even petite reality TV star Kim Kardashian, who famously attended the Met Gala earlier this year sporting the gown in which Marilyn serenaded President Kennedy, was shocked at how small the '50s icon really was: “I always thought she was extremely curvy,” she told Vogue when she initially tried the dress on. “I imagined I might be smaller in some places where she was bigger and bigger in places where she was smaller. So when it didn’t fit me, I wanted to cry because it can’t be altered at all.”
"Nobody else should be seen in that dress."
This was only a few months before the event, so Kim embarked on a strict diet to give herself a chance at wearing the dress: “I would wear a sauna suit twice a day, run on the treadmill, completely cut out all sugar and all carbs, and just eat the cleanest veggies and protein,” she revealed. “I didn’t starve myself, but I was so strict.”
Kim dropped 16 pounds to wear the dress, but it still didn’t fit: she accessorised with a white fur stole because she was unable to do up the zipper at the back. Given that Kim – a very slim woman with curves – was so far from fitting into Marilyn’s dress, it’s further evidence that the ‘plus-sized’ narrative that has been part of the star’s legacy isn’t accurate. And the idea that she is harms the real plus-size community who are being sidelined in favour of, yet again, a slim body, thus contributing further to the lack of body diversity in the media.
Her size aside, it’s also interesting that Marilyn’s body is still such a worldwide object of interest – why is it so lusted for 60 years after her death? The answer seems quite clear to me: Marilyn embodies what society deems the ‘perfect’ women’s body: thin but with curves ‘in all the right places’ (thin arms, legs, face and stomach but with boobs and a bum).
She was the original poster girl for the ‘perfect hourglass’, a shape that has long been upheld as the ideal for a woman. It is the most highly coveted shape, and women have gone to many lengths to replicate the tiny waist – in the Victorian era, corsets were used to accentuate the hourglass silhouette, and today we have waist trainers which are intended to nip in the waist.
Netflix has rated the Marilyn Monroe Biopic 18+
It makes some sense, then, that Marilyn Monroe’s figure is still such a talking point. Still, I believe it’s a really sad reflection of the beauty standards that women have faced for generations and a testament to the continuing obsession with women’s bodies that is toxic and causes untold harm.
Because why is the hourglass figure coveted when for some women, it’s just not an achievable shape? Why are we encouraged to go to extreme lengths to achieve the hourglass figure even though we have a perfectly fine figure of our own? Why are we so obsessed with Marilyn’s silhouette when she was a woman with so, so much more to her than the shape of her body?
The reality, despite what society would have you think, is that the ideal shape is the one you have, the one your genetics dictate. And trying to fight that is an unnecessary, unfulfilling use of your precious time on this earth.
Yes, Marilyn Monroe was beautiful, but you are too.
Kim's tribute to Marilyn at the Met Gala has prompted the comparisons.
