The shimmering, sequinned dress worn by the actress, Marilyn Monroe, in 1962 when she sing "Happy Birthday" to President John F Kennedy, has fetched more than one-and-a-quarter million dollars at auction in New York.

The silk gauze outfit, so tight that the star was literally sewn into it, easily beat the prevous record price for a dress, a quarter of a million dollars for one of Princess Diana's gowns.

Also going under the hammer at the two-day sale at Christie's are a number of other dresses worn by Monroe, as well as books and mementoes.