Rare personal items that once belonged to Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe are set to feature in a new exhibition dedicated to the actress’s life and legacy.
The Icon Collection, on display in New York, brings together clothing, documents and personal artefacts. A private preview at the Waldorf Astoria New York recently showcased highlights from the Icon Collection, a private archive of clothing, documents, photographs and memorabilia associated with the star.
Collector Brian Jones, owner of the Icon Collection, said: “I think it started when I was a little kid and found a Playboy magazine under my dad’s bed,” he recalled, referring to Monroe’s famous red velvet calendar photograph.
Among the most significant exhibits is the last cheque signed by Monroe on the day of her death in August 1962: the document relates to the delivery of furniture for her newly purchased home in Brentwood, California – the first home she ever owned. According to Jones, handwriting experts who examined the cheque noted her fluid, confident signature, suggesting she was focused on furnishing her home and planning for the future.
Other items link Monroe to one of the most famous moments in US pop culture history: her performance at President John F. Kennedy’s birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden in 1962.
Among the items on display are Monroe’s programme from the event, a handwritten RSVP card showing that she personally paid for five guests at the concert, a mirror from her home in Brentwood, unfinished dresses specially tailored to her figure, comfortable everyday wear, and designs by the Italian fashion house Pucci, one of her favourite brands in the early 1960s.
Several of the items previewed in New York will feature in the upcoming exhibition “Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon,” opening later this year on 31 May at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles.
