“I thought it was a big mistake. [Marilyn] was a goddess. A crazy goddess, but a goddess. She was just fabulous. Nobody photographs like that. And it was done for her. It was designed for her. Nobody else should be seen in that dress.” In fact, the dress wasn't just designed for Monroe, but was actually dyed to match her exact skin tone and was sewn onto her body prior to her infamous performance of “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” at Madison Square Garden.

When Kim Kardashian hit the Met Gala red carpet wearing Marilyn Monroe's original 1962 Jean Louis gown, in which Monroe famously sang "Happy Birthday" to President John F. Kennedy, it provoked a polarizing response.

While some celebrated Kardashian for her nod to the icon, others worried about the implications of her wearing the real gown. Costume historians and conservationists decried the unfortunate precedent it would set and the potential damage it could cause.

Another person who didn't love Kardashian's choices? Fashion designer Bob Mackie, who drew the sketch for the original gown in his early career working as an assistant to Jean Louis. "I thought it was a big mistake," Mackie tells EW, while previewing the new Turner Classic Movies' fashion on film series Follow the Thread. "[Marilyn] was a goddess. A crazy goddess, but a goddess. She was just fabulous. Nobody photographs like that. And it was done for her. It was designed for her. Nobody else should be seen in that dress."

Mackie also echoes historians' concerns that wearing the gown was undoubtably damaging to its preservation and structural integrity. He was only 23 when he did the sketch for the gown under the direction of Louis, not even knowing what the dress was for besides an original design for Marilyn Monroe to wear.