By 1952, Monroe had become a sex symbol, playing ‘the girl’ on screen, and pulling publicity stunts off-screen, from wearing revealing dresses to telling a journalist she wore no underwear, and beginning a highly-publicised relationship with Joe DiMaggio. By the next year, Monroe was a bankable Hollywood star. A trademark make-up look featured dark, arched brows, red lips and a beauty mark, and a trademark style consisted of revealing or tight dresses. All that, complete with her bouffant platinum hair, made her recognisable as the ‘blonde bombshell’ of Niagara and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, where she played Anita Loos’ titular ‘dumb blonde’ with comedic genius, and sang the iconic ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’.
