I challenge you to think of somebody’s image that’s captivated us affected and ingrained itself into our house decor over that of Marilyn Monroe, who would have celebrated her 87th birthday today, June 1, 2013. (Monroe died in 1962 from a prescription pill overdose.) My own wife has gathered a small collection of posters, expensively framed prints, coffee table books and even Marilyn Monroe wine.
But few people know or have observed that the impact of Monroe’s image and life over Greg Schreiner, the president and founder of her fan club, which he started 31 decades back. He has been analyzing Monroe’s life because he first saw her face splashed on the silver screen in 1960. “As a child, my parents took me to see Some Like It Sexy,” he states. “I couldn’t get the image from my brain. I was 8 years old. I was 10 when she died.”
Each June 1 Schreiner celebrates Monroe using a guided trip around her older Los Angeles haunts plus a free-to-everyone celebration at Schreiner’s house, which, of course, is full of Monroe memorabilia. “Each wall is coated, but it is not garish the way you’d think. People come in and say, ‘It’s so beautiful,”’ he states.
Here are some suggestions for working a few of Marilyn’s mystique into your own decor.
Millennium Cabinetry
There is something about Monroe’s image. Her life — both the good and poor — was well recorded during her career, together with photographs spanning a full assortment of emotions. Here a bright colour wash over a Monroe portrait provides artful drama into a space.
Schreiner has also curated an exhibition at The Hollywood Museum which will run from June 5 to September 8, 2013. It will exhibit a lot of his collected Monroe artifacts, such as dresses she wore in her movies and in life, in addition to her refrigerator and dresser (pictured); the dresser was next to her the night she died.
Envision living
Interestingly, while Monroe’s image offers pop art cachet, her elegant picture can anchor sophisticated settings, also.
Ilija Mirceski
“Marilyn has been an iconic figure for the entire world,” Schreiner says. “She is a star in every respect and keeps reinventing herself.” You would be hard pressed to find another face that could create drama and fashion in a large format the way Monroe’s does.
Envision living
Here a sexy wine-sipping Monore graces fabric for a headboard.
Beasley & Henley Interior Design
Monroe’s image adorns the backs of these jet-black chairs.
Lizette Marie Interior Design
“Equally, women and men are attracted to her, feel protective of her,” Schreiner says. “Women never felt threatened by her intelligence, classiness and voluptuousness.”
Design Manifest
“There is something hauntingly incredible about her on the display,” Schreiner says. “She is bewitching, luminous. You can’t take your eyes off her. No one on film has done that for me but her.”
West Chin Architects & Interior Designers
Monroe took a staggering amount of nude portraits during her lifetime, a rarity in those days — and not only for someone with such star power.
Here celebrity Bert Stern’s “Marilyn Monroe — Crucifix II (in The Last Sitting), 1962” hangs in this modern dining room space, creating a dramatic and provocative setting.
Kelly Hoppen London
Portraits: Michael Hoppen Gallery
Nieto Design Group
“Above all she reflects much we miss that we don’t have today; she had been the end of this Hollywood studio-system era,” Schreiner says. “After that the studios took away the magic of the celebrities.”
KellyBaron
Holly Phillips @ The English Room
Warhol’s take on Monroe’s image always offers a exploding colour palette to play from. “Her image has lasted because she practically was handsome art herself,” Schreiner says. “No wonder enormous artists like Andy Warhol and a thousand others were fascinated by her.”
Spinnaker Development
This is a super-rare Seward Johnson bronze sculpture depicting Monroe’s most famous moment: holding her dress when standing over a blowing subway grate.
Your turn: Show us your Marilyn Monroe decor!
