Marilyn Monroe 'subway dress' sells for $4.6 million at auction
Possibly the most iconic dress in film history, the “subway” dress Marilyn Monroe wore in the 1955 film “The Seven Year Itch” was sold Saturday for $4.6 million at a Hollywood costume auction.
The dress, designed by William Travilla, was part of actress Debbie Reynolds’ private collection of nearly 600 costumes and other film memorabilia that were auctioned off at Beverly Hills’ Paley Center for Media.
The ivory, pleated halter dress was estimated to sell for about $2 million.
Other items in the 12-hour auction also went for more than their estimates, such as the red-sequined dress Monroe wore in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” expected to fetch $200,000 to $300,000 but sold for $1.2 million. The Ascot dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in “My Fair Lady” also sold for well above its estimate at $3.7 million.
The auction also included costumes worn by Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor and Natalie Wood.
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Photos: Left, Marilyn Monroe poses over the updraft of a New York subway grating while in character for the filming of "The Seven Year Itch" on Sept. 9, 1954. Credit: Matty Zimmerman / Associated Press. Right, the dress worn by Monroe in the film on display for the auction. Credit: Fred Prouser / Reuters.
Just proves that the rich are getting richer while the middle class is getting hammered. What's a few million here or a few million there? The wealthy, who are paying the lowest tax rates in modern history, spend millions while the rest of us stretch twenties so thin you can see through them.
The situation is so corrupt it's impossible to gauge when and how it'll be brought to a fair and just conclusion.
Posted by: Dave Morgan | June 19, 2011 at 06:04 PM
Rick from Pawnstars should've bought it. But not for 4M$.
Dave dave dave dave!!...cut it with your self-pity, "Robin Hood," Marxist rant boy! Then stay poor and perpetuate your self-pity chump.
Posted by: edizzle | June 19, 2011 at 09:42 PM
Wow , so expensive .
Posted by: MAC make up wholesale | June 20, 2011 at 12:50 AM
I agree with the person who posted on the Rich getting Richer and there being no more Middle Class in this country. I am too rich to qualify for any help and yet my income is BELOW THE MIDDLE CLASS FIGURE!
Posted by: jmpgodiva | June 20, 2011 at 12:09 PM
Did they throw in the matching panties?
Posted by: KMB | June 20, 2011 at 07:15 PM
Its a dress worn by an Icon so I suppose its worth more than the fabric. But its not art.
Posted by: GH | June 20, 2011 at 07:47 PM
The dress is worth as much as somebody pays for it. Its iconic, when you think of Marilyn Monroe you think of her in THAT dress. I wonder who bought it? Was it a private sale?
Posted by: timelessmoviemagic | June 21, 2011 at 08:55 AM