Andy Warhol, Grace Kelly, 1984. Screen print in color. This print was created two years after Grace Kelly's fatal car accident.
I have really enjoyed Grace Kelly month, not only because she was an interesting person, but I also felt like there was a manageable number of films to watch (see post on her films HERE)! I also enjoyed learning about her interest in created pressed flower collages, and I'm glad that her creativity found a way to manifest itself in a visual form (see my post on her collages HERE).
I think Grace Kelly is a very classy and tasteful person, and I've really enjoyed following her sense of fashion in the exhibition catalog for Grace Kelly - Style Icon show at the V&A museum in 2010. I personally prefer the clothes that she wore in the 1950s and 1960s. I love her wedding dress though, especially with the detail of the row of small buttons that extends from her neckline to her waistline. However, I think she was a victim of the times when it comes to the fashion of the '70s and '80s, and some of her outfits (like this one or this one) are a little too gaudy for my taste, as well as her overly-elaborate hair coiffures.
Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn backstage at the 28th Academy Awards on March 21, 1956
As I learned about Grace Kelly this past month, I thought of a lot of parallels between these women. (No doubt I was influenced in making parallels because I read Donald Spoto's biography on Grace Kelly, and I had also read his biography on Audrey Hepburn a few months ago.) Not only were they fashion icons, but they also had similar aspirations to become mothers and both women retired from their careers after either marrying or becoming pregnant. Both of these women had complex relationships with their fathers, too. Grace Kelly's father never thought that Grace would amount to very much (he favored her older sister) and he consistently expressed his bafflement when Grace was successful in stage and film productions.
What struck me most about Grace Kelly was that she was consistently described by people who knew her and worked with her as a genuinely sincere, nice, and kind person. I've thought several times during this month about how this is such a tribute to her as a person, and how I would like people to think of me this way. Here are some comments that Grace Kelly made about being kind and respectful, and also what others said about her:
- "You know, I just love Grace Kelly. Not because she was a princess, not because she was an actress, not because she was my friend, but because she was just about the nicest lady I ever met. Grace brought into my life as she brought into yours, a soft, warm light every time I saw her, and every time I saw her was a holiday of its own." - James Stewart
- "I've always treated my children as beings in their own right. I respect their feelings and aspirations entirely." - Grace Kelly
- "I would like to be remembered as someone who accomplished useful deeds, and who was a kind and loving person. I would like to leave the memory of a human being with a correct attitude and who did her best to help others." - Grace Kelly
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