She owns just two pairs of pants, wears imitation diamonds and, when in character, a fake mole on her
left cheek.
Kaity Kinloch has embraced Marilyn Monroe down to her curly platinum hair, her pucker when photographed
and that mole.
Kinloch, 20, is a native of Wayne and is in her first semester at Bowling Green State University,
studying digital art.
She’s been dressing in 1950s’ starlet outfits for two years, but for only the past five months has truly
embraced the other woman’s style and is now ready to use it professionally.
“I dress like this all the time,” Kinloch said while wearing a black spaghetti strap dress, black heels
and a fox-hair stole. Large faux diamonds adorned her ears and silver and diamond bracelets slipped
across her white gloves.
She hits vintage shops for her attire and buys some online.
In fact, all of her clothes have to be original to the 1940s and 1950s.
She makes appearances at area car shows and antique markets, always getting attention and sometimes even
getting paid.
“For people to be very happy about that makes me happy,” she said.
She recalled attending the Black Swamp Arts Festival and getting $5 for posing with a man for a photo.
She’s decided to use her looks professionally, calling herself a tribute entertainer.
“The only time I’m in costume is when I put the mole on,” she shared. She said she sleeps in rollers to
keep her hair perfectly coifed.
After spending two years in Manhattan — which she called dirty, expensive and entitled — she moved back
to Ohio.
“I find Marilyn Monroe kind of fascinating. She’s definitely worthy of being an idol.”
Kinloch hates it when photographers ask her to pose and then try to modernize her look. “I need to keep
her true image. I won’t do anything that doesn’t live up to her image.”
She attributes being home schooled most of high school with not letting people influence her looks.
“I love it. It’s very refreshing,” said her mom, Judy Kinloch. “She’s just an old soul. She’s always been
inspired by the old movies.”
Looking like Marilyn Monroe “is her normal every day routine. Even before New York, she didn’t dress like
other kids.”
The younger Kinloch adores vintage cartoons, idolizes Ub Iwerks (the creator of Mickey Mouse) and some
day would like to be animator.
“It’s absolutely genius,” she said about “Red Hot Riding Hood,” from the 1940s.
She also enjoys “Flip the Frog” from the 1930s and “Gerald McBoing-Boing” from the 1950s.
Moving to California to chase her love of Marilyn and animation would be a dream “but Bowling Green is
just enough city for me.”
She’s surprised that people do treat her a little differently. “People think they know who I am before
they approach me.”
“She’s Kaity looking like Marilyn,” her mom said. “I’m always open to anything my kids want to do to be
who they are. She just wears it so comfortably.”
Her goal in life? “I hope it can bring a lot of happiness to people.”
—
For bookings and inquiries, contact Kinloch at [email protected] or 419-601-0589.
