Women Sold Out Her Used Clothes to High Amount
But her widespread presence risks diminishing Monroe’s contribution to style. Like the Sydney Opera House or the Mona Lisa, her image is so familiar, so utterly ubiquitous, that it is sometimes hard to see the mastery that lurks beneath.
In a career that spanned just 16 years, Monroe established herself as an actor, producer, singer, business woman, aspiring intellectual and, above all, a sex symbol. Far removed from the demure restraint of the prevailing 1950s Hollywood ideal, Monroe used clothes and makeup as a tool to perpetuate her sex goddess image. She reputedly sewed buttons into the bust points of her garments to create the impression of pert nipples, and described the lips half-open tilted pose seen in countless photographs as “the look”.
In his autobiography, designer Bill Blass describes a fitting at the actor’s apartment. “Monroe is the only woman I ever met who gave all her attention to her derriere,” he recalled. “She knew exactly what those seams should do.”
