DIOR PRESENTS "PICTURING MONROE" IN NEW YORK CITY

The images of Marilyn Monroe on display at Milk Gallery last night were moving, in both senses of the word. Taken from the archives at Staley-Wise Gallery, the 50-some photographs on the wall amount to a portrait of the blond bombshell that's every bit as ample as her famous curves. And yet, as Andrea Riseborough pointed out, the big picture is "incomplete, in the sense that she had such a tragic end." Riseborough plays Wallis Simpson in W.E., Madonna's upcoming biopic of the American socialite who controversially became the Duchess of Windsor. It's a Harvey Weinstein movie, as is My Week with Marilyn, a sneak preview of which was the second part of the Dior-sponsored evening.

Calvin Klein, Coco Rocha, andDominic Cooper (who co-stars inMarilyn, alongside Michelle Williams, who plays Monroe) were among those touring the exhibit, which runs through November 13. Few people have had as privileged a view of the movie, which hits theaters later this month, as Weinstein's wife,Georgina Chapman. "I've seen it at home, many times and at many stages," she told Style.com. Naturally, Chapman keeps any potential spoilers to herself. "She's good—she'll never reveal anything," said her Marchesa co-designer, Keren Craig.

You couldn't exactly say the same of Monroe, as Christie Brinkleypointed out. "She projects so much more beyond the makeup—there's a presence, a vulnerability, an emotional response that you get from her," the former supermodel mused. "But as available and open as she was, she still maintained a lot of mystery."

One of the show's blockbuster images is the iconic one of Monroe from her so-called "Last Sitting" with photographer Bert Stern in 1962, in a backless Dior gown. Dree Hemingway was making the rounds in a faithful reproduction of the voluminous dress, and Stern, for one, seemed bewitched—he whipped out a pocket camera for some close-ups. Hemingway didn't stay for the screening. She was having dinner with Weinstein. And besides, she said, "I'd need 12 seats!