Marilyn Monroe in one of the most iconic pop culture images of the 20th century in the form of Monroe standing on a subway grate as her white dress is blown upwards by a passing train in Billy Wilder's classic romcom, The Seven Year Itch (1955).
• This footage of Monroe's dress billowing over a subway grate was shot at two locations: first on location outside the Trans-Lux 52nd Street Theatre (then located at 586 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan), then on a sound stage. Elements of both eventually made their way into the finished film, despite the often-held belief that the original on-location footage's sound had been rendered useless by the overexcited crowd present during filming in New York.
• Marilyn Monroe's iconic white dress, designed by William Travilla (known professionally as Travilla), set a record when it was auctioned for $4.6 million in June 2011 (rising to $5.5 million after taxes and fees were included), quintupling the previous record for a movie costume ($923,000 for Audrey Hepburn's “little black dress” from Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) (Hubert de Givenchy ― Principal Wardrobe for Audrey Hepburn; Edith Head ― Costume Supervisor).
• Billy Wilder preferred shooting in black and white, but Marilyn Monroe's contract with Fox called for all of her movies to be shot in colour. Monroe always thought that she looked far more attractive and glamorous in color than in black and white.