It seemed like a good idea at first. But perhaps it does when Kim Kardashian asks her army of assistants to do something. This time around, though, it was a particularly tall order. The 41-year-old reality TV star needed something to wear to this year’s Met Gala. Her first choice? The sheer, beaded Jean Louis gown that Marilyn Monroe famously wore in 1962, when she sang “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden. Yes, that dress.

The gown itself is owned by Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, which loaned it to Kardashian via Julien’s Auctions, the company that handled its sale in 2016 – the dress went for $4.8m (£3.8m). Initially, the Skims founder was offered a replica of the gown – she declined. After much deliberation, Ripley’s agreed to allow Kardashian to wear the gown to walk the red carpet. Then she would change into the replica.

It was all quite straightforward. And yet, the moment Kardashian arrived at the Met, hand-in-hand with boyfriend Pete Davidson, the internet went wild. It wasn’t necessarily anything to do with how Kardashian looked in the dress (gorgeous), or the diet she went on in order to fit into it (absurd), although that did ruffle some feathers. No. The online furore was mostly due to the fact that Kardashian had been granted the right to wear one of the most beloved pieces of clothing of all time.

Earlier this month, Monroe’s dress designer Bob Mackie, who drew the original sketch of the gown for Jean Louis, said it was a “big mistake” that Kardashian was permitted to wear it. “[Marilyn] was a goddess. A crazy goddess, but a goddess,” the 82-year-old told Entertainment Weekly. “She was just fabulous. Nobody photographs like that. And it was done for her. It was designed for her. Nobody else…