The Richard Avedon "Some Like It Hot" session
I want to get this right, for once. Not that it'll matter, people will go on publishing the same crap. The shots Richard Avedon took of MM in her black dress with the ukulele are ALL HER. It is not another actresses body with Monroe's head. Some of the shots are slightly retouched around the waist, but otherwise, it's MM. (He did the famous life cover of her biting on the earring that day too.)
Monroe's head from one or two of those Avedon shots was placed on the body of another actress who posed w Jack and Tony in L.A. MM had just miscarried was in NYC and not up to that kind of work. (And considering what Tony had just said about working with her...) You can find those shots with the other lady and the boys. I always thought those photos--as they were finally used in the "Hot" posters-- looked weird.
But the Avedon shots are Marilyn head to toe. Because of her depression over the loss of the baby (her third miscarriage w Miller) she had to be prodded to do the Avedon session--correspondence about this exists. It had nothing to do with her weight. She was not overly-concerned about being plump. She certainly never dressed to conceal it, in any case. Nor is there any record of her asking photographers to make her look slimmer. Because the black and white Avedon's were part of a major campaign for the film, he--or somebody at United Artists--probably did the narrowing of her waist. I've seen a few of the unretouched shots and they look fine. The dress is satin or silk, so it shows every little bulge. (Remember how it looks in the movie, while she's singing "Running Wild?" Every curve is over-emphasized.) The retouching consisted mainly of making the dress look matte, instead of shiny.
Silly, I know, but I just saw those photos on one of the MM sites, with the incorrect info and it drove me crazy.