Hollywood legend's frocks go on show

Updated 07.48 Mon Oct 01 2007

Keywords: fashion, Hollywood, Marilyn Monroe

A collection of classic dresses worn by Marilyn Monroe will be exhibited in Britain this week after being kept hidden from public view for 40 years.

The exhibition will include several of Monroe's original dresses, patterns and sketches produced by the late Oscar-winning costume designer William Travilla.

Perhaps the most iconic item is the white dress Monroe wore when her skirt was blown up by the breeze from the subway, during the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch.

Travilla's Monroe costumes became known as The Lost Collection as he placed them under lock and key in his private quarters.

Following his death in Los Angeles in 1990, the collection passed to his partner, Bill Sarris, who hopes the exhibition will raise funds for Alzheimer's charities.

Monroe devotees will be able to see the garments at the Hilton Brighton Metropole Hotel in Brighton, East Sussex, from tomorrow to Sunday, October 7.

Organiser Andrew Hansford said: "This is what Monroe fans have been waiting for.

"Never before have these items left the Travilla private estate so it's the first time people can get close to Marilyn and experience iconic Marilyn memorabilia."

Monroe, one of the most popular movie stars of the 1950s and 1960s, was found dead with an empty bottle of sleeping pills by her side at her LA home in August 1962. She was 36.