Tommy Hilfiger Is Auctioning Off A Pair Of Jeans Worn By Marilyn Monroe
He gave the two other pairs he owned to Britney Spears and Naomi Campbell
Now’s your chance to own a piece of Hollywood history. Property from the collection of Tommy Hilfiger is officially up for auction, including a pair of jeans worn by none other than Marilyn Monroe. Hundreds of items, from signed David Bowie tarot prints to Andy Warhol’s “Liza Minnelli” screen print, will be featured at the auction. While not the most expensive item up for auction, Monroe’s blue jeans from her film River of No Return are still valued at a whopping Dhs146,920 ($40,000).
Courtesy of Julien’s Auctions
Items from Hilfiger’s personal collection will be featured at a special auction on 21 October, 2017 at Julien’s Auctions pop-up gallery in Los Angeles. The auction will also be live on their website.
One memento in particular is a pair of light blue jeans worn by Marilyn Monroe in the 1954 film River of No Return. The pants are described as “zip fly jeans with a single button stamped Foremost JCP Co. and two cross-stitched back pockets.” As if owning a pair of Marilyn Monroe’s jeans isn’t cool enough, Hilfiger originally purchased three pairs of Monroe’s jeans, and has since gifted one pair to Britney Spears and another to Naomi Campbell.
In River of No Return, Monroe swapped out her signature flirty dresses for several pairs of blue and black jeans for the role of Kay Weston, a dance hall singer. After getting involved with ex-convict Matt Calder (Robert Mitchum) and his 10-year-old son Mark, the three find themselves on a journey that involves stumbling through forests and evading a mountain lion attack. This explains why Monroe opted for jeans.
Jeans might seem like no big deal today, but back in the 1950s, Monroe set trends with everything she wore. “She was among the first to wear jeans,” film producer Sam Shaw writes in the 1987 book Marilyn Among Friends. “She would get a new pair of jeans from an Army-Navy outlet store, go to Santa Monica beach, go into the sea, drenching the jeans till they clung to her body, then stay in the sun. The jeans dried to her form like a leotard.“
Courtesy of Julien’s Auctions
Other highlights from the auction include a pair of early 1970s vintage platform boots worn by KISS guitarist Ace Frehley and a leather vest worn by Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger during the Steel Wheels tour (1989-1990).
A portion of the proceeds from this auction will go to the Autism Speaks foundation, an organisation that helps people with autism and their families. For more information about how to bid, you can visit juliensauctions.com.