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Lady Violette

The Romantic Lifestyle

Posts Tagged ‘Princess Grace of Monaco’

Grace Kelly in Vintage Furs with Flowers Charmingly Demonstrates Dressing Appropriately For Cold Spring Weather While Still Looking Like it is Spring!

Thursday, May 5th, 2011

 

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Exquisite Fur Stole & Flowers!

My favorite - Fur Coat & Spring Hat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s supposed to be spring! Pretty spring fashions – that means pastels and flowered dresses are featured in every shop. Flowers are blooming, but it is so cold out it is hard to get in the mood to wear them! I have a closet full of vintage coats – several furs, a few stoles, and short fur capes and cashmere coats with fur collars. All pretty and feminine. Many in soft spring colors like champagne and pale blue, ecru, pearl gray and beige.

I love vintage furs, especially the coats from the 50’s and 60’s. They are well made, full enough to fit over suits and full skirted dresses, flattering and above all, warm! I absolutely hate being cold. I do not feel pretty or attractive when I am frozen.

The other day I was reading about Grace Kelly and the author said she always dressed weather appropriate which meant warm enough to be comfortable. That made me like her and respect her fashion sense even more than I did already. So I decided to see if I could find some pretty examples to emulate. And, Voila! I did! Here are two of my favorite photos. Aren’t they exquisitely romantic?

I imagine she is wearing a pretty spring dress or suit ~ that matches her hat ~  under the cozy fur coat. She looks warm, lovely, feminine and happy! Because she isn’t cold! I am inspired to dress this way for the next few weeks. Probably until the Fourth of July the way it is going around here! A quick check of the weather worldwide tells me it is the same in a lot of other places ~ Vienna, Paris, London, Moscow, San Francisco, New York, Tokyo and Seattle are all cold today and it is May 5th!

I don’t know when these two pictures of Grace were taken, but they look like April in Paris in the 50’s to me. I do know the one on the right, in the fur coat, was taken after she became Princess Grace of Monaco. And that is all the explanation I need to be inspired by them! From now on I say furs worn with flowers as accessories are in for spring! The dainty gloves are charming too and serve the purpose of keeping your hands warm. And I love the hat with the flowers cascading over her forehead.Dressing like this epitomizes fashion as a feminine art. Just lovely!

 

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The Epitome of Grace ~ The Charming Ways Princess Grace of Monaco Wore Scarves & Instructions From Hermes on How to Tie the Grace Kelly Scarf Style.

Thursday, May 5th, 2011

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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