Kim Kardashian took the Met Gala theme one step further this year by slipping into a real piece of American history.
The reality star wowed crowds by wearing the exact same dress that Marilyn Monroe donned to sing 'Happy Birthday' to President John F. Kennedy in 1962.
In an interview with Vogue, Kardashian opened up about the extreme diet she had to go on to fit into the dress, which is stored in a temperature-controlled vault and forbidden from being altered.
When she first tried the dress on, it "fit like a glove". However, when it was transported to her home by security guards for a second fitting, Kardashian found she didn't fit into it properly anymore.
"I wanted to cry because it can’t be altered at all," she recalled. There were only two options: slim down in time for the Gala or find something new to wear.
Kardashian was determined to channel Marilyn and wear the dress for the occasion, so she put herself on a strict diet. "I would wear a sauna suit twice a day, run on the treadmill, completely cut out all sugar and all carbs, and just eat the cleanest veggies and protein," she described, adding: "I didn’t starve myself, but I was so strict."
Ultimately, she lost 16 pounds in just three weeks.
A month later when Kardashian tried the dress again, it fit perfectly. All that was left to do to finish her transformation into Marilyn was adopt the movie star's iconic platinum blonde locks. It took 14 hours to get her hair from dark brown to white blonde but, eventually, the 41-year-old was ready to take to the red carpet at Monday's event.
Elsewhere in her interview with Vogue, Kardashian explained why it was so important to her to wear Marilyn's dress for this year's Gala, where the theme was "In America: An Anthology of Fashion, Gilded Glamour".
"The idea really came to me after the gala in September last year," she said. "I thought to myself, what would I have done for the American theme if it had not been the Balenciaga look? What’s the most American thing you can think of? And that’s Marilyn Monroe."
She went on to say: "For me the most Marilyn Monroe moment is when she sang 'Happy Birthday', to JFK, it was that look."
Meanwhile, Kardashian wasn't allowed to wear the dress - which holds the record of the most expensive dress ever sold at auction for $4.8 million - for the whole evening.
She was only allowed to put it on while she walked the red carpet, have a few pictures snapped in it, and then quickly change out 0f it again.
"I’m extremely respectful to the dress and what it means to American history. I would never want to sit in it or eat in it or have any risk of any damage to it," Kardashian explained, adding: "Everything had to be specifically timed and I had to practice walking up the stairs."