Auction of the Week: Marilyn Monroe’s Pink Pucci Dress Sells for Eight Times Estimate

Monroe’s Pucci dress. Photo: Courtesy of Julien's

From her platinum-blonde hair to her iconic cinched-waist outfits, there may be no other figure in pop culture history whose sense of style has quite endured like that of Marilyn Monroe. That fascination is evident in a recent auction at Julien’s Auctions, where a long-sleeved pink silk jersey gown once worn by the screen siren fetched a staggering $325,000 on Thursday evening—eight times its low estimate of $40,000.

Created by Italian fashion designer Emilio Pucci for Saks Fifth Avenue in New York, the garment was famously worn by Monroe in a Vogue photoshoot with photographer Bert Stern. The outfit, which features a rope and crystal tassel belt, is just one of a string of historic pieces worn by the actress that has fetched major prices at auction recently.

Other Monroe items that hit the block in the sale, “Icons: Playboy, Hugh Hefner, and Marilyn Monroe,” which continues through Saturday, include a first edition of Playboy magazine, where Monroe is the cover star, wearing an eye-catching black halter dress. It sold for $6,000. There is also a black evening gown worn from her film The Seven Year Itch and a swimsuit from the movie There’s No Business Like Show Business among other Playboy memorabilia. Julien’s Auctions also holds the current record for Marilyn Monroe clothes for the $4.8 million sale in 2016 of the dress she wore when singing the iconic “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” to John F. Kennedy.