Marilyn Monroe’s Personal White Fox Fur Muff

Marilyn Monroe’s white fox fur muff is more than a glamorous accessory. It is a surviving artifact from the moment she fully stepped into the role of a Hollywood film star. In the winter of 1953, Marilyn carefully crafted an image of platinum elegance, pairing white furs with long gloves, sparkling jewels, and couture gowns for premieres and public appearances. Worn to the world premiere of How to Marry a Millionaire, this muff reflects Marilyn’s instinctive understanding of fashion as performance. Preserved with Christie’s auction provenance, it remains a striking example of how Marilyn dressed not simply to attend an event, but to embody the enduring mythology of stardom itself.

Related Collection Artifacts:

• Marilyn Monroe’s Personal Script for How to Marry a Millionaire
• A Marilyn Monroe and How to Marry a Millionaire Cast Signed Purse

The world premiere of How To Marry A Millionaire  –  November 4, 1953

From “Marilyn Monroe” by Maurice Zolotow:

“I want to be all platinum and white tonight,” Marilyn explained, as anxious as a girl getting ready for her first prom… Gladys (Rasmussen) gave Marilyn a straight permanent. Then she bleached and tinted her hair and set it. Marilyn was wearing it long that night, shoulder length. Gladys painted her fingernails and toenails with platinum polish.  Her slippers, her evening dress, her long white gloves arrived from wardrobe, together with two wardrobe women. A messenger boy delivered a box with diamond earrings. Her furs had come that morning. The furs were her own. The first furs she had ever owned. Except for the white fox fur stole and muff, and her panties, everything she wore belonged to the studio. The hair, the nails, a good deal of the face were also the studio’s. They were hers and they were not hers, just as the woman on the screen was she and not she.

Unchastened by Joan Crawford’s pronouncements, Marilyn had chosen a dress made of white lace lined with flesh-colored crepe de Chine and embroidered with thousands of sequins. It had a high waist, and it curved under her breasts revealingly. A long white velvet train trailed from a gold belt. The long gloves were drawn up the length of her arms. The stole was placed around her shoulders. She put her right hand into the muff and with her left she carried the train as she walked outside to a waiting studio limousine.