“Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon” at the Academy Museum offers insight into her public and private wardrobe, including bombshell film costumes, a proto-Skims waist trainer and everyday wear from midcentury Los Angeles fashion brand Jax. Icon Skincare launches with formulations developed in collaboration with Monroe’s Golden Age Hollywood esthetician. East Coast prep meets West Coast skate at the Noah store in the Sycamore District, while Catherine Opie’s cool blue period is on view at Regen Projects.
“Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon” Is Really a Fashion Exhibition, a Good One
It’s the summer of Marilyn, with events around the world celebrating the centennial of Marilyn Monroe’s birth on June 1, 2026, from the Palm Springs lookalike contest featuring 1,037 Marilyns, to Julien’s Auctions’ “100 Years of Marilyn” featuring her Elizabeth Arden “Pink Spark” lip pomade and pink patterned Emilio Pucci blouse among other ephemera.
The “Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon” exhibition, now on view, is part of the broader celebration, with a curatorial focus on how the glamorous but tragic figure shaped and controlled her own image. How much control she actually had remains a matter of debate. But the exhibition offers an impressive array of fashion, from on-screen gowns and jeans to a proto-Skims waist trainer and elegant everyday looks from midcentury Los Angeles brand Jax.
The exhibition is sponsored by Chanel, which supplied a rare 1950s-era bottle of Chanel No. 5 displayed alongside Marilyn Monroe’s famous quote: “What do I wear to bed? Why, Chanel No. 5 of course.”
Monroe certainly knew what she was doing giving that provocative quote to Life magazine in a 1952 interview, adding, “I don’t want to say nude, but it’s the truth.”
The endorsement was not paid, a fact that may surprise modern audiences. Monroe later became a celebrity ambassador for Westmore Hollywood Cosmetics. More recently, in 2013, Chanel collaborated with her estate to use archival recordings of Monroe’s voice in a fragrance campaign.
While Marlene Dietrich and Audrey Hepburn traveled to Paris to collaborate with couturiers on their on- and offscreen looks, Hollywood’s studio costume designers shaped Marilyn Monroe’s bombshell persona, with William Travilla collaborating with Monroe on eight films. Their craftsmanship rivaled anything being done in Europe at the time, as this work demonstrates.
The star of the show is Travilla’s strapless hot pink silk satin gown and gloves, which Monroe wore to perform “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” (1953). The dress, which has its own gallery, retains its vivid color in person as it appears onscreen. Travilla incorporated felt, boning, ostrich feathers and horsehair to help the garment maintain its shape, and it has held up impressively over time.
Interestingly, it was not the first choice for the scene; Travilla designed a more risqué, Taylor Swift showgirl era-like costume consisting of a bejeweled two piece and bodysuit, which is also on display.
But during the film’s production, Monroe’s nude photos from 1949 surfaced in the press, and the studio thought it best for her to wear something more conservative. She showed them, delivering one of the most seductive performances in Hollywood history even in a more modest outfit.
The Travilla from “The Seven Year Itch” (1955) is also on display — more precisely, a Travilla-made replica of the pleated halter gown famously lifted by a breeze from a subway grate. The look became synonymous with Monroe’s iconic status, later immortalized in a larger-than-life cutout above Times Square.
I was fascinated to learn that early in her career, before achieving financial success, Monroe often borrowed costumes from studio wardrobe departments for her red carpet appearances.
A gold lamé halter dress made by Travilla for “Gentleman Prefer Blondes” was deemed too revealing and only shown briefly from behind in the film. Monroe had the designer modify it for her to wear off-screen for photos and appearances including the 1953 Photoplay Awards.
Monroe is often remembered as a pioneer of the “naked dress.” Most famously in audio recordings of her 1962 performance of “Happy Birthday, Mr. President,” when she wore a shimmering sheer Jean-Louis gown, gasps can be heard from the audience. She also helped cement the halter dress as a symbol of glamour and played a role in popularizing denim for women in the 1950s through her on-screen looks in “The Misfits” and other films.
But her style didn’t always find favor with the press. In 1951, a prominent female newspaper columnist publicly called Monroe “cheap and vulgar” for wearing a low-cut red dress to a Beverly Hills Hotel party, writing that she would look better in a potato sack. Monroe took it in stride, asking Travilla to design a potato sack dress for her, and wearing it for a 1952 studio-staged photo shoot.
Amidst all the sequins and glamour in the show, her personal attire is particularly revelatory, including her waist, jaw and chin trainers, which are among several underpinnings on display that feel a bit exploitative to look at even all these years later.
Her everyday wardrobe reflected what might be described as quiet luxury: curvy but unadorned little black dresses, a green silk jersey Pucci top paired with black pants, and black Ferragamo heels. One look that stood out in particular was a ballet-pink silk jersey dress with a full chiffon skirt that felt remarkably modern-looking and brought to mind Alaïa.
It was by Jax of Beverly Hills, which dressed much of Hollywood at the time in second-skin slacks, knitwear and jersey dresses defined by a casual elegance. Jax was one of Monroe’s favorite stores and among the first to showcase Rudi Gernreich’s designs.
Monroe also turned to Jax for the silk pajamas she wore in “The Seven Year Itch” (1955), which are also on display and remain strikingly chic today.
In her last interview, in July 1962 with Life magazine writer Richard Meryman, published in full in the new book “Marilyn: The Lost Photographs: The Last Interview” (Weldon Owen), Monroe spoke thoughtfully about her approach to style and fame.
“Normally I just wear whatever, but when I’m in a crowd and I’m going to be recognized, I’m more careful the way I dress,” she said at the time. “I mean, more carefully dressed for the occasion. There are certain times I feel that the public should see me at my best. I’m not going to go running around like a dog. I feel I wouldn’t want to let anybody down and I wouldn’t want to disappoint them. Fantasy is important for people, and so I think in that way.
“Sometimes wearing a scarf and a polo coat and no makeup and with a certain attitude of walking, I go shopping or just look at people living. But then, you know, there will be a few teenagers who are kind of sharp, and they’ll say, ‘Hey, just a minute. You know who I think that is?’ And they’ll start tailing me. And I don’t mind. I realize some people want to see if you’re real.”
“Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon” through Feb. 28, 2027 at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, 6067 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036.
Marilyn’s Beauty Regimen Inspires New Skincare Brand
Marilyn Monroe continues to influence fashion and beauty, as seen in the launch of Icon Skincare, a new brand inspired by a piece of memorabilia acquired by Hollywood collector and beauty executive Bryan Johns, founder and president of iS Clinical, a brand popular among A-list clients.
Johns and his business partner, Alec Call, launched the venture with a Marilyn Monroe 100th birthday celebration at the Academy Museum on Monday night.
The direct-to-consumer brand was born after Johns discovered Hollywood’s Golden Era esthetician Madam Renna, who treated the faces of Monroe, Clark Gable, Ava Gardner and Elizabeth Taylor, among others.
Renna was known for her custom formulas, her husband Dr. Campbell’s “bloodless facelift” technique, and her signature use of royal jelly, all of which have been incorporated into Icon Skincare’s formulations.
The nine-piece collection features cleansing, resurfacing, hydration and brightening products with signature blends of sustainably sourced botanicals, antioxidants and acids, with royal jelly playing a prominent role to nourish the skin and offer a radiant glow.
Johns began exploring Renna’s legacy after noticing the beauty pioneer’s name on a signed Monroe photograph he acquired at auction, on which Monroe wrote, “To Madam Renna, thank you for what you’ve given me, your work and your interest.”
He later learned that it was Renna who helped refine Monroe’s chin enough to satisfy director John Huston, leading to her casting in “The Asphalt Jungle” (1950), her breakout film. Renna reportedly treated Monroe from the late 1940s until Renna’s death.
Among the same box of ephemera Johns acquired was a notebook containing Renna’s formulas. “That’s what started it,” he said of the journey to develop Icon Skincare, which does not use Monroe in its marketing beyond the origin story.
As he told the Marilyn-dressed crowd gathered for cocktails on the Dolby Family Terrace—including Dita Von Teese, January Jones, Sharon Lawrence, celebrity facialist Shani Darden and makeup artist Gregory Arlt—the brand is “about how an icon like Marilyn Monroe can inspire us to discover and reveal icon energy inside.”
Icon Skincare, $32 to $68, is available exclusively at iconskincare.com.
East Coast Prep Meets West Coast Skate at Noah
Design power couple Brendon Babenzien and Estelle Bailey-Babenzien have opened an L.A. clubhouse for their brand Noah.
Located in the Sycamore District, a retail hotspot already home to Nili Lotan, Jacques Marie Mage and Just One Eye, the 5,000-square-foot space marks the New York-based brand’s fourth store and its first on the West Coast. Accessible via an alley off Sycamore Street and tucked into a courtyard shared with the Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, the new location reflects Noah’s blend of seaside style, Ivy League prep, skate culture and surf influence, with an emphasis on community.
“To a young kid dealing with cold weather, rain and snow for chunks of the year, it looked like the streets were paved with gold,” Babenzien, who grew up in Long Island, N.Y., said of his early perception of California. “Every magazine was featuring skaters and surfers in California. All of what California was offering us got absorbed, compounded and layered on top of a basically preppy, and sometimes punk, sometimes hip-hop style, defining a new Northeast attitude.”
That collision of influences has long defined Noah, the label Babenzien launched with his wife, Estelle, in 2015 after spending more than 15 years as design director at Supreme. (He also spent five years as creative director of J.Crew menswear before departing the brand in February.) Estelle brings plenty of design experience of her own, from working with Donna Karan on her Madison Avenue flagship to designing Adrian Grenier’s brownstone.
She was responsible for the interiors, with architectural direction from Studio Murnane, translating Noah’s easygoing style into a chic space that invites visitors to linger. The design features a custom Blue Island piece by Shin Okuda of Waka Waka; lighting by Estudio Persona; wallpaper created by Graham & Brown and artist Kate Berry; rugs by Salam Hello; and fitting room curtains made from UK Sailmakers sails.
There is a full kitchen, a Sony-sponsored screening area and soundstage, and an in-store skate bowl designed by Machine Histories.
I stopped by on Saturday, and while no one was shredding, plenty of people were shopping Noah’s collection (priced from $22 to $1,598), which includes colorful Oxford button-downs, seersucker tailoring, rugby shirts, Japanese-crafted denim, chinos, madras windbreakers, board shorts and soft tees. Among the highlights were a limited-edition chain-stitched “Los Angeles” T-shirt created for the opening and another featuring a graphic of the California quail, the state’s official bird. Also on offer were maritime-themed knickknacks, Noah sneaker collaborations with Converse and Catch Ball, and sharp-looking Noah x Timex Moon Phase watches.
Noah, 911 N Orange Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90038.
Catherine Opie’s Cool Blue Period
As the summer weather heats up in L.A., gallery-goers will find a cool respite at Regen Projects in Catherine Opie’s new exhibition of photographs, “Holding Blue.”
The show features the L.A. artist’s recent works capturing Norway’s dramatic landscape bathed in the deep blue light that envelops the Arctic Circle during the polar winter.
Opie road-tripped through the region in early 2024 in search of the phenomenon known as “blue hour,” which she depicts in a series of large-scale photographs titled “Norway Mountains.”
The images capture unfiltered light in countless shades of blue, contrasted with craggy earth and glassy ice in what Opie describes as “a meditation on environmental fragility.” Her experience of Norway’s fjords, structures and everyday scenes is also documented in other works on view.
Opie describes her photographs of Norway’s mountains as portraits, developed through extended observation, with the artist spending days with each peak before making an image. The resulting works capture the many shifting moods of the landscape.
The majesty at the edge of the world is humbling, as are the scenes of life amid the frozen isolation. “Circle of Ice,” which features tiny huts lit from within and perched on a precarious swirl of ice, calls to mind the transient Minnesota communities depicted in Opie’s 2001 “Icehouses” series.
There are variations on color, including “Munch Sky,” which features a dramatic red sunset reminiscent of the skies in works by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, including “The Scream.”
This is one of five exhibitions focused on Opie this year. Her work is appearing simultaneously across Europe, with a career-spanning survey at London’s National Portrait Gallery set to travel to Edinburgh’s Royal Scottish Academy, alongside exhibitions opening in Kassel, Germany and Trondheim, Norway.
“Holding Blue,” until July 3 at Regen Projects, 6750 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles.
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