Marilyn Forever

More than anyone else, Marilyn Monroe embodies the archetype of the ultimate star. Considered one of the greatest actresses of all time, she is above all an iconic figure. Already adulated during her lifetime, her career, her personality and the fantasies that she enshrined have endowed her with a mythical dimension that has been consistently enriched over the years.

Born Norma Jean Baker, she earned huge fame in Hollywood after starting her career as a fashion model. Her great beauty led her to be singled out in 1944 at the age of 18, while working in a factory at the time. Her exceptionally photogenic nature soon draw the attention of 20th Century Fox. After modest beginnings in the world of films, she soon became a screen goddess. In the 1950s, she starred in films by the greatest directors of the era — including Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, John Huston and many others — and became the ultimate glamour icon. She nonetheless felt herself to be held captive by the popular dream view of her as the absolute sex symbol. Her intelligence and her sensitivity were battered, and she constantly fought to break the moulds in which people tried to imprison her. The dramatic intensity with which she lived her life made it a theatre in which any event achieved legendary status.

Milton H.Green is a New York born portrait specialist and fashion photographer who worked for prestigious magazines including Life, Look, Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue. He set the stage for and immortalised all the great names of the artistic scene in the 1950s and 1960s: Grace Kelly, Marlene Dietrich, Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, Sofia Loren, Ava Gardner, Romy Schneider, Steve McQueen... Among all these icons, it was Marilyn Monroe who treated him to the most powerful aesthetic experience. Their sense of professional kinship was enriched by a profound friendship. The sensitive touch radiating from these pictures testifies to this intensely special relationship.

Marilyn once told him «You made me interesting». Above all, she loved his vision that represented a clean break from the stereotypes imposed on her by Hollywood. Sometimes, after the official photo sessions for magazines, once the team had left the set, he took more intimate and free-spirited pictures of her. They first met in 1953, in a period when Marilyn was eager to play more dramatic roles. Their cooperation tells the story of this lesser known side of Marilyn’s life: her years in New York, during which she was seeking to regain control of her career.

The woman rather than the diva: that is exactly what Milton H. Greene was able to capture right from his first session in Marilyn in 1953, when Look magazine sent him to take the star’s portrait. After photographs in more sophisticated outfits, he presented the actress in a new light wearing a simple black coat belonging to his wife. The sense of mutual understanding between Marilyn and Milton also emerges in the choice of more surprising settings, such as the window in which the actress is portrayed as a fortune teller or the sand of Laurel Canyon near Los Angeles, where she appears more natural than ever.

Behind the Hollywood goddess was a woman with both darker and brighter sides to her nature. Caroline Scheufele has drawn inspiration from this icon to design Red Carpet — a jewellery collection of timeless elegance.

The 25 unpublished photographs by Milton H. Greene were selected by The Archives, LLC, Chopard and Oscar Generale Productions from the 4,000 photographs taken by Milton H. Greene, to which his son, Joshua Greene, owns the rights.

This exceptional event is part of the long history of the ties binding Chopard to the world of film-making. Official partner of the Cannes Festival for the 15th year, the Geneva-based jewellery and watchmaking House illuminates the Festival with its incomparable sense of glamour, culminating in the mounting of the steps ritual.

Since redesigning the Palme d’Or, Chopard has constantly strengthened its ties with the movie world. Loyal to its tradition of patronage, the company testified to its commitment to the «seventh art» by creating a new award, the Trophée Chopard. Awarded at each edition, it aims to encourage promising new young actors and actresses. Chopard also associates with major productions and talented directors, such as Woody Allen and his Midnight in Paris, or Nine by Rob Marshall — a film for which the Geneva company designed an exclusive Haute Joaillerie collection. A boundless range of shared encounters, desires and emotions, all suffused with Chopard’s extraordinary creativity, characterised by a world of dreams and a peerless sense of the exceptional.