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Home > Life & Career > Style Icon

Her
distinguished career, indeed Her life, has been characterized by
an innate sense of style, classic beauty and inherent good taste.
Always atop the worlds most beautiful lists, admired
as a fashion leader and setter of trends, She graced
the pages of many a glossy magazine with a dazzling smile, warm,
enigmatic eyes and vivacious expression. Grace Kelly style
is a well-known, well-used phrase in the English lexicon signifying
incomparable beauty and all that is chic, natural and lady-like.
Grace Kelly knew how to wear clothes. This became quite obvious
to Edith Head, Paramount's chief costume designer on the 1953 film
Rear Window. Under the direction of Alfred Hitchcock, Grace's
character, a fashion model "who never wears the same dress
twice," sports an extremely stylish wardrobe: glamorous short
evening dresses, an impeccably tailored suit, a full-skirted floral
dress, and casual jeans all contributed to establish the "Grace
Kelly Style". She collaborated again with Hitchcock and designer
Edith Head on To Catch a Thief in 1954. The glamorous costumes
play a role almost as great as the plot with Grace Kelly, as a spoiled
American heiress, dressed in fabulous clothes and jewels.
Her friend Edith Head also designed the dramatic ice blue satin
dress and matching coat she wore in March 1955 at the Academy Awards
ceremony where she won the Oscar for Best Actress for her role in
The Country Girl. A favorite of hers, she had worn it before
at the premiere of the movie and donned it for the cover of Life
magazine in April 1955.
Cartier,
Mikimoto and many of the worlds leading jewelers created magnificent
precious pieces and the worlds foremost designers flocked
to dress and accessorize Her. Hermès, the French haute couture
fashion house, created and named a hand bag - the Kelly bag
in Her honor and it has since become one of the worlds
most sought-after luxury products.
Her look was clean, classic and simple - something startlingly different
from the voluptuous screen sirens of the 1950s. She wanted to be
considered serious and was the antithesis of the showy starlet.
She wore elegant outfits: shirtwaist dresses, understated evening
gowns, well-cut tweed suits, hats with little veils, low-heeled
shoes, and gloves. She made no secrets of the horn-rimmed glasses
she needed for nearsightedness. Her tasteful style, rare in a young
Hollywood star, appealed to many in the 1950s.
In December 1955, Women's Wear Daily ran a feature of the
opportunities offered by the Grace Kelly Look for the clothing
industry. Soon her stylish image was everywhere, including department
store windows. She had started a whole new trend in fashion.
After
her engagement to Prince Rainier in 1956, Grace Kelly's influence
on fashion reached new heights, spreading from the United States
to Europe. Before leaving for Monaco in April, she spend two weeks
in New York to complete her trousseau, a who's who of America's
designers. Accessories, a major part of a ladylike look, included
silk chiffon scarves, shoes, hats and gloves.
On April 19, 1956, she married Prince Rainier in a legendary wedding
dress offered by MGM, created by the studio's wardrobe department
and designed by its costume designer Helen Rose. Fifty years later,
the high-necked, long-sleeved dress with a fitted bodice and billowing
skirt made of rose point lace, yards of silk faille and taffeta
and seed pearls, is one of the most elegant and best-remembered
bridal gowns of all times.
As Princess of Monaco, She continued to influence fashion with Her
natural sense of style: dazzling at social functions, chic and stylish
at official events, casually elegant on the town. Today She remains
one of the most admired women in the world for Her beauty, poise
and style.

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