Billy Wilder’s Some Like it Hot (1959) regularly tops of the polls of the greatest film comedy of all time. It starred Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and at the height of her popularity, Marilyn Monroe, whose performance earned her a Golden Globe for Best Actress. The film’s costume designer was Orry-Kelly, an important designer during The Golden Age of Hollywood, who won his third Oscar for his work.

The costume was designed by Orry-Kelly for Marilyn Monroe for the film Some Like it Hot (1959), and joined the V&A Theatre and Performance collections in 2014. It was one of 500 film costumes from the BFI costume collection that were transferred to the V&A. The BFI costume collection was assembled from 1980 to 2000 by the former Museum of the Moving Image. The costume was purchased by the BFI from Christie’s Film and Entertainment Sale 1988, with a letter of authenticity. Sometimes costumes are modified, and often more than one version of a look is made for a performer.

The BFI collection is made up of British European, American and Japanese films and covers the period from the silent film era to the mid-1990s. The collection contains a wealth of historic and significant costumes worn by major performers and designed by some of the 20th century’s most important film costume designers. The costume collection was transferred to the V&A in 2015.