In a big ‘away with you’, as much as the 1950s was concerned, Marilyn Monroe once wore a dress made of a burlap potato sack for A 20th Century Fox photoshoot. As much as the photoshoot itself is interesting, the real story behind Marilyn Monroe’s potato sack dress is also equally amusing.
As the story goes, Marilyn Monroe once attended a Beverly Hills hotel party wearing a provocative red dress that drew attention from the party attendees and media personnels alike. One of the female journalists, according to Monroe, called her “cheap and vulgar” for wearing a dress which was apparently very low cut and alleged that she would have looked better wearing a potato sack.
20th Century Fox studios, Monroe’s breakthrough production company, in a genius response went on to capitalise on the idea and had made a potato sack dress for Monroe. She obviously looked like her brilliant and charming self, and the photos were featured in the newspapers across the country making an iconic statement. One of the magazines which featured her was Stare, a cheesecake magazine, and it read, “Marilyn Monroe doesn’t care too much for potatoes because it tends to put on weight, but she decided to do something for the potatoes!”
Another less interesting version of the story simply suggests that the company thought it would be a good publicity stunt since Monroe’s fans frequently said that she’d look good in anything, even a potato sack, which she undoubtedly did.
Records state that it might be William Travilla, who had designed several of her iconic dresses like the white dress from The Seven Year Itch, had crafted the figure hugging potato sack dress. She was photographed by Earl Theisen of the Look magazine, who photographed her frequently.
If you liked reading about Marilyn Monroe’s potato sack dress, you’d also love to read: Marilyn Monroe: Had She Been Alive!
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