Re-creating the iconic dress from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
In late 2019, my fave pin up client Ms. Evie* Assault, came to me with a very special commission request. She had been working towards becoming a Marilyn Monroe impersonator and wanted to have this iconic pink satin ensemble re-created as a performance costume.
(*rhymes with ‘Heavy’)
Of course I love a vintage sewing challenge, so I said yes. It’s always hard to predict the journey that each project will take you on, and this was no exception!
Step one was, as always, copious research. We both strive for authenticity, and there are a lot of bad/cheap reproductions and homage versions of this dress. It’s one of those pieces that is widely recognizable, even to people who have never seen the movie it’s from. Classic Marilyn. That being said, it would be easy to do another ‘similar-enough-to-the-real-thing’ dress and most people wouldn’t know the difference. That wasn’t going to happen in this case!
As someone who deals with aesthetics of all sorts for a living, my goal is always to make things that live in the right ‘world’. When you are creating an illusion onstage with props, sets, costumes and humans, you want the audience to believe and be immersed in the universe of the show. For Evie’s Marilyn, she spent hours studying her idol’s voice, movement, mannerisms and songs (Evie also sings live in her act). Her hair and makeup are as close as possible to the iconic blonde. If we put her in a cheap gown, it would bring down the level of authenticity we were striving for and that just wouldn’t do!
First, I looked for still images online that could give me clues to the dress’s construction and details.
I also found this book in the library, and later purchased a copy online which documents the many screen costumes designed for Marilyn by William Travilla. It has photos of an extant dress that they imply is the one worn in the movie, but I suspect was actually a copy that the designer had made, or another version made for the film but not used. It does not appear to have the contrast black lining we see in the movie. It’s not unusual that multiple versions of a costume are made as backups or as alternates for different set ups. The book does give some good tidbits of info like the fact that the skirt is interlined in billiard felt to give it body and prevents it from getting too wrinkled looking when she dances in it. Apparently, the bow was stuffed with feathers to keep it’s shape…
Fun side note:
I downloaded and re-watched the movie, but especially the ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ sequence multiple times, pausing to scrutinize the dress and make notes. There is a lot of information to be found if you are looking for it, and I found more each time I went back to the scene.
***NERDY SEAMSTRESS DETAILS AHEAD***
We were going for authenticity, so the more elements I got right, the better. My findings included these observations:
*The ‘real’ dress is actually more of a candy/rose pink, but in the movie it appears much brighter due to the type of film used, so we decided to go with the latter tone because that’s what people recognize.
The actual dress colour is much lighter than it appears in the film. 
The Technicolor film makes everything more vivid than real life, so we think of this dress as much more saturated pink.
*The bodice is cut on the bias, and pleated/folded to shape around the body. there are no actual darts or seams on the outer layer of top half of the dress. There are also no visible closures.
This page from the Travilla book shows the belt over the bow, which is not how it was worn in the film.
*Since there is no record that I could find about the interior of the dress, I had to go with my previous experience and build a structured lining that would hold up the weight of the skirt and stay put while Evie did her Marilyn moves.
Inside, layers of interfacing and woven fabric were partially boned with spiral steel and lined in the same pink satin. The lining matches the outer layer so that it blends in, but also makes it easier to get into/out of during a quick change if the performer is doing multiple looks during a show. I’d normally add a waist stay to help it stay put, but it would be another step when changing. There is a larger than normal dress hook at the top of the zip to help hold tension and do up the zip easily.
(with an extra long pull cord to help with quick changes).
The outer layers consist of the pink satin flat lined to organza all cut on the bias to get that drape and hug the body without any seams. It was like doing origami with very slippery material. We nicknamed the bodice ‘the pink onion’ because of all of those layers. Some wide ‘horsehair’ braid along the top of the inner layers provides extra flexible shaping.
so that I could reassemble the layers properly after alterations.
Also reasons I don’t paint my nails… #seamstressproblems
so that it was invisible on the front.
To get it to drape properly, Evie spent many hours in fittings, and I spent many hours meticulously hand tacking the layers into their folds to create the illusion that it was all just floating in that shape. Especially challenging in such slippery fabrics, but they would never have stayed put otherwise.
Mockup Version. 
In Progress. 
More Progress.
The zipper is only installed in the structured lining. The folded outer layer is attached to the skirt, and gets snapped over to hide it, as with the OG dress.
and lots of hand stitching to hold the layers in place.
* The skirt is a pretty straightforward column, but with very minimal shaping at the hip. Looking closely at the film and photos, the front is totally flat, but there are darts or seams at the side that curve from the waist to the hip. On my version, I used pleating at the top of the back sections to shape over the bum while allowing the rest of the skirt to hang straight down.
I didn’t think felt was going to be the best interlining in the long term, so I used a medium weight knit interfacing instead. It gave the skirt some weight, but hangs nicely and moves well. As per the film version, it is lined in black satin.
* The Belt is wide and structured, with a covered rectangular buckle, made from a vintage belt kit. Another quick change solve was to reverse the closure set up to avoid having to feed the belt through the buckle. Instead it is fixed in place, and the other end hooks behind. A hidden snap holds the free end down for a smooth look with no belt loops.
This one is stamped onto vintage pink ribbon.
A (stage) name tag is a nod to historical show girl and film costume labels. It indicates that this is a custom made piece.
*The ‘Bow’ is actually a stuffed and twisted double layered cylinder of fabric, and does not have a ‘cincher’. It’s also not attached at the centre-back, but perches asymmetrically on the right hand side over the bum, and is tacked to the bodice at the top.
The Travilla book suggests that the bow was stuffed with both horse hair and ostrich feathers. I suspect that someone mistook this note on the pattern card, that lists ‘horsehair’. This more likely means horsehair braid, which gives shaping and structure to the edges. The modern version is made from woven nylon fibres and comes in various widths. Loose horse hair was used in the past to stuff things like seat cushions, but I suspect it would be too heavy for this purpose. Feathers make more sense and would have made less of a mess. Sometimes you have to think about the logic and rely on your previous knowledge to deduce what makes the most sense.
I’m curious what happened to the ‘smoll bow’…
My version is interlined with stiff crinoline and edged with Ridgeline polyester boning to keep the shape. More hand tacking through various layers were required to set the twist and the pleating. After it had been in storage for months (a rare pandemic live performance opportunity), we found that it needed some further poof, so I added more crinoline between the layers.
A lot of wrangling went into this bow! 
Oversize hook and eye (colour matched to the bow and bodice) anchors the top through the structural layers of the dress.
Of course, we had to have the matching gloves. Looking at the film and photos, I noticed that the palms and inside thumbs of Marilyn’s gloves are a different colour. My Travilla book says that this was an intentional practical feature, so that she could grip her dancers for the lifts etc without slipping.
The colour difference is less obvious when not in Technicolor.
I used a 1940s glove pattern to make several trial versions to get the fit right before the full opera length stage pair. I found some lightweight pink knit for the inside that both recreated the originals AND had the modern practicality of being able to use touchscreen devices without taking them off!
The satin is cut on the bias to eliminate the need for
wrist closures in this non stretch fabric.
The OG gloves!
The Reproduction Glove.
I have that hold delicate accessories like pantyhose.
In February 2020, Evie debuted her Marylin act at a local convention where she hosted an annual Pin-Up Pageant. Our collective weeks/months of work paid off and her inaugural performance was great!
*N.B. This was the first use of the dress and there were some little things that went awry like the bow and belt got twisted during the quick-change. In action, the gloves were a bit loose at the top. The issues were later adjusted, and overall I was pretty happy to have pulled it off in a fairly tight timeline. Looking back, it’s especially miraculous considering how stacked my #beforetimes plate was with overlapping projects.
Unfortunately, very soon after, the world shut down, especially in the arts and entertainment industries. Evie has since made a couple of appearances as the iconic blonde, but live shows have been hit and miss as we continue through waves of this pandemic.
We both love this dress and hope that soon, Marilyn can get more outings!
For booking and information about upcoming appearances: @evieassault on Instagram.
