Grace Kelly: Style Icon Exhibition at V&A
The Grace Kelly: Style Icon exhibition is currently showing at the V&A museum in South Kensington, London until 26 September.
Film Star
After starting out as a model and completing acting training in New York, Grace Kelly moved quickly into films – her glacial blonde beauty attracting in particular British director Alfred Hitchcock to cast her in a number of films. In the 1950s she appeared in High Society and Rear Window, winning an Oscar for her role in The County Girl (1955).
Fairytale Bride
At the height of her film career she met the dashing Prince Rainier of Monaco and they fell in love and married, making a real-life fairytale come true and turning a Hollywood princess into a real princess. Grace subsequently gave up her film career and had three children – Princess Caroline, Prince Albert and Princess Stephanie.
Princess and Icon
As Princess Grace of Monaco, she used her fame to support the principality and charities and cultural causes. Nearly thirty years after her death she remains a timeless, effortless icon, evoking elegance and old-style Hollywood glamour with her cool, subtle beauty, inspiring a song by Mika and the current trend for fifties dresses, as seen in the American drama series, Mad Men. The film Revolutionary Road, starring Kate Winslet and set in 1950s suburban America, featured Kate’s character, April, wearing many styles that Grace would have worn in films of the era.
Film Costumes and Real-life Fashion
This exhibition showcases many of the costumes Grace wore in her films, as well as outfits worn in her private life, from the suit she wore for her civil ceremony weddingc to dresses she wore to attend charity functions and state balls. On display are also her accessories – handbags, sunglasses and jewellery, including her stunning diamond tiara. Newsreels from the time play on a loop featuring her engagement and wedding and clips from her films. A pop up shop allows visitors to purchase replica jewellery, books and prints.
Accessibility of Exhibition
One criticism of the exhibition is the layout. Whilst it is on the first floor and was no doubt deemed accessible for wheelchair users, the glass display cases are laid out in such a way that people bunch around the most popular exhibits and inevitably cause blockages for people in wheelchairs. A little more spacing around the most popular exhibits would have solved the problem. Most of the visitors were women, although a few men were in attendance. Overall it is a well put together exhibition, although some more photos of Grace Kelly would have made it even better.
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