A Marilyn Monroe collector has claimed that Kim Kardashian did "permanent damage" to the iconic dress Monroe wore to serenade John F. Kennedy on his 45th birthday, shortly before the actress' death.

The Instagram account "Marilyn Monroe Collection" shared  a before-and-after photo of the dress Kim Kardashian wore to the Met Gala last month, showing the gown missing crystals and others hanging by a thread. 

In photographs taken last week by Scott Fortner, a collector who works to authenticate and verify Monroe memorabilia, appeared to show the fabric stretched and buckled and crystals missing from the back of the dress.

The post quotes the owner of the dress, Ripley's Believe It Or Not, who at the time stated that "great care was taken to preserve this piece of pop culture history. With input from garment conservators, appraisers and archivists, the condition of the garment was the top priority... no alterations were made to the dress and Kim even wore a replica after the red carpet."

During a fitting more than a month before the gala, Kardashian realized her assumption that the dress would fit her was optimistic.

"When it didn't fit I wanted to cry because you can't alter it at all," she said.

She undertook an extreme weight-loss regimen to try to squeeze into the dress, which involved a vegetable-focused diet, lots of time on the treadmill and wearing a sauna suit twice a day.

"It was challenging," she said. "It was like a role, I was determined to fit into it."

Kardashian's show was met with criticism from health professionals, while her seemingly insatiable desire to wear a dead woman's dress also fell flat.