I actually wanted to post it on June 1st, to give the children in you a princess for the International Children's Day. But I got distracted last week, and instead did some more prosaic things, like sewing and watching The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett. :-)
The book tells the story of Grace Kelly's life and shows her clothes, with short sidetracks to some of the designers "whom" she wore. It's not a book that traces history of clothing, rather it's a pretty "coffee table book" that gives you inspiration... and I love that. It's nice to have some simply pretty books; plus the Grace Kelly style is very classic. So I want to thank Jennie Chancey from Sense & Sensibility again, for hosting the giveaway and thus allowing me to win the book. In the meantime, I showed it to many female members of my family... because it's just too beautiful a thing to keep to myself!
When I showed the book to my mom, she liked this dress, and I thought, I must show it to her mom, my Wonderful Crafty Grandma, because she'd surely also like the dress. And I was right, she did!
My favourite page is this, though. An article that tells you what clothes to pack when you travel. Even though the clothing conventions are different today, I still think there are some helpful tips there.
This is an illustration of a McCall's pattern that one of Grace Kelly's dresses was made from - the dress she wore when she met Prince Rainier for the first time. Variant A. I like the dress a lot. The neckline is very becoming, don't you think?
And this! The neckline, namely. Much like what Atlanta did to the damaged neckline of a 50s bridal dress she sells in her Etsy shop. Which, by the way, I love, and almost would want to wear as my wedding dress one day, if it fit me. It's nice to see similar style really worn by a real woman (if a Hollywood actress) in 1950s!
Grace Kelly's cathedral wedding gown seems to be rather well known - this was her civil wedding ensemble. I like it even more than that big dress. It's so... demure.
One regal photo for good measure.
And one cute.
Lovely!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great book! Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. :-)
ReplyDeleteI thought I had commented already! Anyway, it looks like a great prize - congratulations again!
ReplyDeleteoh how I wish people still dressed like that! looks like you had a great time in Germany.
ReplyDeleteGermany was back in 2004, back in those days when I still spoke German... and yes, it was nice, especially because I was staying with a nice family.
ReplyDeleteCute! The page on how to pack is funny and ironic though - I remember reading a biography of Grace Kelly, and they told the story of her meeting Rainer for the first time, and she almost didn't go to the photoshoot because all her clothes were rumpled from travelling, and the only one that wasn't was the dress she wore, but she considered it a very 'unphotogenic' dress.
ReplyDeleteAh, true! That story is there, too, but I did not make that mental link... :D It's because she relied on hotel irons and there was no electricity that day, the book says.
ReplyDeleteMaybe back in those days all people relied on hotel irons?
And I guess when you pack, your clothes will ALWAYS need some ironing. The difference is in different people's level of conscience about it... Considering nowadays many people don't even iron, I'd say nowadays the level of conscience is much lower than in the 50s - and nowadays we wear much more knits that usually need less ironing than wovens.
And even then, that level of conscience nowadays differs between people and situations. I don't mind wearing rather crumpled clothes when travelling, but I shudder at the memory of having to wear crumpled clothes straight from the dryer in the USA... Tumble-dried clothes need ironing much more than line-dried, in my opinion, but people who have tumble dryers are usually those who won't bother ironing either...
This is almost beginning to sound like an individual post.
I mostly found the article interesting in the choice of clothes, though. That sort of double-service thing. I like the idea of double-service clothes, so I like seeing ideas about it.