Will Marilyn Monroe’s iconic denims flip us into bombshells?

On Thursday, a pair of denims flopped onto my desk like a fish at a sushi market.

“Try them out,” instructed my boss. “See what they can do.”

The pants had been a recreation of Marilyn Monroe’s iconic denim from the 1961 film “The Misfits,” rebuilt by designer Vivian Rivetti for Lee Jeans. The model’s capsule assortment, which debuted this week, additionally options Marilyn’s oversize Storm Rider Jacket and the straightforward white button-down shirt she was famously carrying on-set.

But the massive draw was the jeans, remade with a tiny bit extra stretch however the identical 65-year-old form… which meant a excessive waist that seemed prefer it may choke out my intestines, and the kind of “where’s the flood?” ankle cuff that received me bullied in center college.

Lying limp on my desk, these $109 bottoms seemed, to cite my adolescent tormenters, “super f—ing sad” — which meant I wasn’t too psyched after I was requested, together with some hesitant colleagues, to put on them across the workplace.

Would we appear like trend misfits as an alternative of Pinterest babes based mostly on “The Misfits?” Or may we really use Marilyn’s OG denims to channel our personal internal bombshells?

My first thought was “no.”

Actually, my first thought — as soon as these items had been zipped and buttoned — was “ow.” 

Like all post-pandemic millennials, I’m used to the type of boyish, dishevelled denims final seen on the wastoid skaters in Clueless, the looser and softer the higher. (There’s a motive Gap’s pajama denims bought out, in any case.)

Unlike these blissful sweatpants, these Marilyn denims hit tremendous excessive on my torso — like, previous my stomach button — and squeezed my waist with the clingy pressure of a toddler who doesn’t need to go away the playground 

Tightest on the butt and ankles, these pants had nearly no stretch and, like essentially the most boring man you’ve ever bedded, they actually solely bend a technique.

Sitting at my desk in them, I discover the dreaded “red line” forming the place the zipper and high button hit my physique, leaving an irritated rim of scorching pink pores and skin alongside the perimeters.

It received worse after I ate a salad at lunch, and the fiber from some inexperienced bell peppers hit my digestive tract simply sufficient to make the waistband chafe alongside my ribs.

I felt like a sausage. But it turned out, I type of seemed like a smokeshow.

My abdomen was flatter. My butt was rounder. My cowboy boots peeked out of the cuffed bottoms like a classic Ralph Lauren advert.

Women within the Post newsroom stopped to inform me I seemed “different” with a nod of approval, as if I’d gotten a therapist and a Gwyneth-approved coach as an alternative of a cotton-poly mix.

This was really a fairly whole lot for $109.

Marilyn Monroe trend collector and historian Scott Fortner had a concept about why.

He instructed The Post that costume designers beloved placing Marilyn Monroe in denims as a result of it conveyed a “glamorous but easy, all-American look.”

He famous that the match of those denims “would feel a little different” on a contemporary physique as a result of Marilyn’s silhouettes had been famously tailor-made to magnify her hourglass determine, even when it meant feeling yanked.

“In her personal life, she actually didn’t wear jeans very much!” mentioned Fortner. “She wore things that were more comfortable for her — capris and cotton pants and silk Pucci pants.”

These “Misfit” denims, Fortner defined, “are what people thought Marilyn wore, when they tried to copy her… It’s why you saw women wearing jeans in the 1950s and 1960s. She helped make it glamorous.” 

Fortner suspects the Marilyn x Lee denims “will be a hit” — however my Post colleagues had been a blended bag on whether or not they had been price “the bombshell tax” of feeling squished and cinched.

Gen Z way of life reporter Allison Lax mentioned she appreciated the vibe — “they gave me a classic look without feeling glaringly retro” — however hit her restrict after about two hours of sitting within the pants at her desk.

“Moving around in them was great. Sitting in them during work? Not great.” Still, Lax admitted she “loved” the way in which she seemed in them. “I’m wearing them on a first date tonight,” she mentioned, which seems like the final word endorsement. 

Millennial photograph editor Jesaca Lin was extra excited in regards to the Lee white button-up shirt she received to throw on for the shoot, saying it was “cool and easy to wear” with out trying too informal.

“The jeans look amazing but I’m not totally in love,” she admitted. “I feel like they might be a little too old-school.”

But for Gen X reporter Isabel Vincent, the denims represented the right mix of classic film star and trendy vixen. “Love them. Love,” she mentioned. “I want to wear them everywhere. They’re easy but not sloppy. They look great. I’m sold.” 

But had been they in a position to carry slightly little bit of Monroe’s bombshell energy to the workplace?

“Nobody will be Marilyn Monroe,” Vincent mentioned. But if channeling her man-eating star energy can wean us off our dependence on pajama pant officewear, I imply… let’s give it a attempt.