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Rare personal belongings once owned by Marilyn Monroe are set to go on display in a new exhibition celebrating the Hollywood icon’s life and legacy.
A private preview at the Waldorf Astoria New York recently unveiled highlights from the Icon Collection, a private archive featuring clothing, documents, photographs and film memorabilia linked to the star.
Collector Bryan Johns, owner of the Icon Collection, said his fascination with Monroe began in childhood.
“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. The discovery sparked a lifelong interest that eventually grew into one of the most extensive private collections dedicated to the actress.
Among the most significant items is what Johns believes to be the final cheque Monroe signed on the day of her death in August 1962. The document relates to furniture deliveries for her newly purchased home in Brentwood, California – the first house she ever owned.
According to Johns, handwriting experts who examined the cheque noted its fluid, confident signature, suggesting she was focused on furnishing her home and planning for the future.
Other pieces connect Monroe to one of the most famous moments in American pop culture history: her performance at President John F. Kennedy’s birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden in 1962.
The archive includes Monroe’s programme from the event, as well as a handwritten RSVP card revealing she personally paid for five guests to attend the concert.
Other items provide a look into Monroe’s creative process and how she shaped her star persona. One standout object is a mirror from her Brentwood home, where she reportedly spent hours studying her appearance and shaping the image that would become synonymous with global stardom.
The collection also highlights Monroe’s influence on fashion, featuring unfinished gowns tailored specifically to her figure, everyday comfort clothing, and designs by Italian fashion house Pucci, one of her favourite labels during the early 1960s.
Together, the objects reveal a contrast between Norma Jeane Mortenson, the private woman, and Marilyn Monroe, the larger-than-life persona she consciously created.
Several of the items previewed in New York will appear in the upcoming exhibition “Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon”, opening later tis year on 31 May at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles.