Princess Grace of Monaco Gracefully Disembarks From a Plane Wearing a Hermes Scarf as a Sling While Recovering From a Broken Arm
Grace Kelly & Carry Grant in to Catch a Thief
Gorgeous Grace Kelly was always the epitome of class and style. She is a great inspiration for ways to wear anything when dressing in vintage and modern fashions! When she broke her arm in 1956 she cleverly devised a Hermes scarf as a sling! Of course that made international scarf styling news!
While researching her wearing scarves I particularly noticed this because I broke my arm and had to have surgery on my wrist and didn’t know about this manner of making a sling. I would have done it had I been informed! Why don’t doctors suggest this?
She was famous for tying Hermes scarves around her head to protect her hair. That way she wore them became known as the Grace Kelly Style. It was particularly becoming on her and women all over the world adapted her style in the 1950’s and 60’s – both to emulate her look and to protect their hairstyles when outdoors in windy weather as well as for activities like riding in convertibles and yachting! The sun hurt her eyes so she wore huge dark glasses and made those famous too! Of course! Nobody else has ever looked as stylish in dark glasses as she did! Needing glasses in order to see clearly she also made them look beautiful! In fact, she made everything she put on look great.
Princess Grace of Monaco wore Hermes scarves and bags regularly and single handedly provided the company with a celebrity style icon who was both a legitimate princess and a real movie star just because she liked their products. They must have been delighted that her fashion choices put them on the map and brought them worldwide publicity and attention throughout her lifetime. That was way before celebrity endorsements became the rage. Grace chose to wear their accessories on her own, too. In my opinion, her good taste and exquisite sense of personal style gives more credence to Hermes name the than any endorsement contract could. Who could not want to look like Grace Kelly? Even punk princesses imitate her in one way or another!
She was always naturally graceful and feminine. She epitomized the Feminine Arts in her career as an actress and in her life as a woman. Grace Kelly was extraordinary. I don’t think this was because she became a film star or a real life princess. I think it happened in the reverse. I think she became a film star and a princess because she was already extraordinary as a person. Fortunately she became well known for her attributes and entertained and inspired many people throughout her life through her performances in her acting career and later, for much longer period, in her real life role as the Princess of Monaco. No matter what happened in her life, she always maintained her incredible poise! I think her training and experience as an actress gave her added advantageous skills to handle her jobs as wife, mother, princess and celebrity. In my opinion she was far superior and light years beyond other royal wives. Of course it probably helped that her husband truly respected her and was totally and publicly really in love with her. Plus, the fact that she had had her own career and success, and was mature in terms of life experience when she married were to her advantage. She was perfectly qualified for the job of a princess.
Grace Kelly Demonstrates a Unique Way to Wear a Hermes Scarf
I was searching for a photo of Grace in her well known headscarf style when I found the pictures of her using her Hermes scarf as a sling. I just had to post them! It’s such a great idea for scarf styling! I hope no one ever breaks an arm, but if she does I can guarantee she will feel better if brought a Hermes Scarf as a get well gift! Unfortunately, I didn’t get one when I broke my arm!
These are some pictures I found of Grace wearing scarves and it is easy to understand why she made them famous! In researching her actually wearing scarves she tied them every way imaginable – around her neck, babushka style under her chin, crossed over each other in the neckline of a jacket, as stoles with evening gowns, decorating the brim of her hat, tying her hair back into a ponytail, as a headband, and the infamous arm sling! But over the years she became famous for the elegant style associated with protecting her hair while stylishly riding in a convertible as illustrated in the how to drawing below.
Here are instructions, from a little booklet given out by Hermes, on how to tie Grace Kelly’s famous hair protecting, face flattering, scarf design showing headscarf style. It is very easy to do. So we have no excuse not to look like Grace Kelly from now on as we run about town! This works best with a large square scarf. The Hermes scarves she so famously used were silk twill 90 cm squares. That is 35 1/2 ” x 35 1/2 .” I’ve tried it with both silk and cotton square scarves and both worked well.
From the photos you can get additional ideas on scarf styling, tying and wearing for some of the other pretty and classic ways Grace did it! They are all straightforward and easy to drape or tie. I hope you find Grace as inspiring as I do! She is not only lovely to look at she also looks nice and sweet!
How to Tie & Wear a Hermes 90 cm Square Silk Twill Scarf the Grace Kelly Way ~ Instructions Courtesy of Hermes
