Wednesday 29th September 2010

To me always Grace Monaco, not Grace Kelly.

Last week, with Laura Malcolm and Esmé Manning, I toured the display of her gowns, day-wear, bags, shoes and gloves at the V and A. Just in time, before it closed. Grace Kelly: Style Icon it was called. Maybe you were there.

What can Poor Little Rich Gays learn?

Esmé and Laura were less than reverent. They reeled at a blue swirly floaty chiffon kaftan thing by Yves Saint Laurent circa 1975. ‘We had a breakfast set like that,’ Esmé said of another YSL creation. Cruella de Vil- like, it was one half a honey-beige blanket, the other a dark brown blanket. Bat-wing sleeves. I tried to graph it but the camera refused.

All the YSL frockage was hideous, in fact – dowdy and middle-aged.

Grace Monaco was designer-led, you see. In the 50s, in the New Look, by Dior, she was stunning. After her death (who would have thought it? To have tumbled off the corniche like that) she was pipped for the Sainthood. But the Vatican said she had changed her look too often, was too much a follower of fashion. If, on the other hand, her present Majesty of England were to apply….

So, there you have it. The great dilemma of frockage. Do you, like those glorious company-and-property-owning tycoons and blazing Poor Little Rich Gays, the Multis, or top accountant, Prince Dmitri Hersov, build your own look out of cufflinks, outrageous shirts, unimaginable shoes and hand-made suits in azure corduroy? And stick to it. Or do you, like me, fight against decay and death, make it new, make it new, even in advanced middle-age, with ever new modes, all the latest looks crammed on?

I must tell you about Grace Monaco’s gilt mac – and her collage. I’ve had my old Hello magazines out, from the days when it was in Spanish.

Come back tomorrow.

A Sheath Dress Worn by Grace Monaco in 1970 and Repeated for a Snowdon Shoot in 1972

A Less Successful Gown Worn by Grace Monaco

Grace Monaco's Matching Clucks