The famous dress worn by Marilyn Monroe when she sang “happy birthday Mr President” to John F Kennedy has sold for a world-record price at auction, fetching US$4.8m (£3.87m).

The sheer, flesh-coloured design, which features more than 2,500 hand-stitched crystals, had a pre-sale estimate of $3m before it went under the hammer at Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles.

It was bought by museum chain Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, surpassing the previous most expensive dress sold at auction – Monroe’s white costume from The Seven Year Itch – which went for $4.6m in 2011.

The custom-made Jean Louis gown was so tight fitting that Monroe was said to have been sewn into it before she performed for Kennedy on 19 May 1962, ahead of his 45th birthday.

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