I had wanted to go to the Grace Kelly exhibition ever since it opened, I had tried a few times unsuccessfully and when one of my nearest and dearest friends moved over from Australia I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to attempt to go again.
I made sure we got there super early, around 10am, even then we were forced to wait half an hour until the next available session.
To say the exhibition was worth the wait is an understatement and it was even more special for me to share it with my friend who has a wealth of knowledge of fashion and about the technicalities of well made outfits- I learnt a lot!
Every piece of clothing was stunning and the way the exhibition was put together perfectly took you through Grace's life story from an actress to a Hollywood glamour superstar.
The exhibition started with the girly dresses of her youth and her courtship with Prince Rainer to the absolutely stunning dresses she wore to parties in her 50's right through to costumes from her films- mind blowing.
We started with outfits from the time when she first met Prince Rainier III of Monaco and were able to see the "easy to sew" dress she had made from the McCall Patterns. The fact that she could meet and woo a Prince in a self made outfit is a massive compliment to the way she could wear a dress.
We then moved onto the belted shirtwaist dress which she wore for the official announcement of her engagement to Prince Rainier, this is totally something that I think Louis Vuitton has replicated in his A/W 10 collection and I could definitely see myself wearing it.
I loved the emerald green Givenchy wool dress with matching bolero jacket that she wore when she visited the White House for lunch with President and Mrs Kennedy, so chic and again something that has stood the test of time and could be worn today.
The outfits from High Society- the grey and pink silk chiffon dress embroidered with roses and a Grecian-style bathing robe absolutely took my breath away.
The Haute couture creations stood in the middle of the exhibition so they could be viewed on a 360 degree angle. Some of the highlights were outfits by Chanel and Balenciaga but the gorgeous Pucci like kaftan was my favourite of the whole collection, she had worn it with piles of jewels and her hair stacked high on her head- totally glamour.
As she aged her style became more eccentric. This was definitely reflected in this amazing head piece she wore to a ball that was made of hair and crystals that branched off her head almost like elegant eels- sounds strange but was stunning.
Of course it would be remiss of me to not mention the accessories, the copious amounts of very VB style prescription sunglasses and the one and only iconic Hermès "Kelly" bag- it crazy to see this bag in real life, probably the closest ill ever get to one!
I loved the whole exhibition, I felt really inspired about fashion and history when I left so much so that I had to go out the next day to buy, watch and totally enjoy High Society- makes me think my mother is onto something with the beauty of old movies and old school Hollywood glamour
x
No comments:
Post a Comment