Collector claims Marilyn Monroe's iconic dress is ruined after Met Gala

A collector has claimed the iconic Marilyn Monroe dress was damaged after Kim Kardashian wore it to the Met Gala. Photo / Getty Images

Kim Kardashian wore a famous Marilyn Monroe dress to the Met Gala - and now a collector has claimed it is damaged.

The Independent reported Scott Fortner, a collector who aids in authenticating and verifying memorabilia from the 1950s, claimed in a blog post that the dress was damaged after being worn by the reality TV star.

Fortner shared photos that appeared to show stretched fabric and missing crystals on the back of the dress, however there didn't appear to be any damage to the front of the dress.

The collector went on to claim it was "irresponsible" for Ripley's Believe It or Not Musuem to loan the "most famous dress in the world" to Kardashian for the red carpet event in May.

But said that while he was disappointed, he wasn't directing his outrage towards the Skims owner.

"I think the disappointment that I'm experiencing is Ripley has made multiple statements that they were doing everything that they could to protect and preserve the gown," he said.

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"I do feel that it [was] irresponsible, this is not just a dress. This is a cultural icon. It's a political icon. It's a Hollywood icon.

"It's part of American history from an event that happened 60 years ago and ... it should have been archived and preserved and taken care of."

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He added: "I think a lot of people are really kind of coming down really hard on Kim Kardashian and that's not my attempt here.

"It's the most famous dress in the world."

Fortner also said he felt Ripley's loaned the dress for "publicity".

The news comes after Bob Mackie, the designer of the iconic dress said it was a "big mistake" for the reality star to wear the dress.

Marilyn Monroe wore the iconic dress as she sang Happy Birthday to President John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden, for his 45th birthday. Photo / Getty Images

Mackie is a legendary costume designer who sketched the design of the sheer dress in 1962 for Jean Louis who then brought it to life for Monroe to wear for John F Kennedy's 45th birthday.

Known as the Happy Birthday Mr President dress, the gown is usually kept at Ripley's Orlando museum in a darkened, temperature-controlled vault set at 40 to 50 per cent humidity to help preserve it.

The museum paid an eye-watering price of US$4.8 million (NZ$7.54m) for the garment in 2016 and Edward Meyer, vice-president of Exhibit & Archives for the museum said, "This is the most famous item of clothing in 20th-century culture."