The Grace
Kelly Style
Elegance is refusal. Refusal to follow others. Aptitude to be yourself.
Grace Kelly was high style.
Genteel and timeless. Her own.
The Grace Kelly Look emphasized simple lines, superb materials, soft,
pastel colours. White
gloves, silk scarves and loow-heeld shoes. Sleek hairstyles, transparent
make-up, discreet use of
jewellery. Ethereal chic and refinement. Natural and unpretentious sophistication.
Delicacy and class.
Grace Kelly worked mostly with two costume designers - Edith Head and Helen
Rose. Edith
Head designed clothes for several Kelly films but only Hitchcock's Rear
Window and To Catch a
Thief gave her the real opportunity to put the graceful actress in
a luxurious wardrobe.
In Rear Window Grace was cast as a Park Avenue magazine editor dressed
perfectly in dazzling
combinations of Dior's New Look. Her affluent, slightly aloof appearance
was set up against Stewart's
insecurity and the clothes were used to establish some of the conflicts
in the story.
To Catch a Thief was all in chiffon and gold. Pastel and classy.
The stylish cooperation continued off screen colouring many events in
Grace's life. The sleek
ice-blue satin dress worn for her Academy Award acceptance was
also an Edith Head
creation.
Helen Rose was a MGM designer who dressed Grace Kelly for
Princess Grace brought a sense of style and class to everything she did,
setting the fashion
standards for next decades.
In 1956 she arrived in New York carrying a large, almost square handbag
she had purchased
at Hermes in Paris. Henceforward it became known as the
Kelly bag.
In Hollywood, in Monaco, throughout the world, Grace Kelly radiated natural
nobility and
aristocratic elegance. Beauty, charm, unsurpassed class, she had them all.
She
didn't need to be invented.
She simply was.