Grace Kelly

[Goyoaga]

Hi,everyone:
I am fan of princess Grace and I have been in the Grace kelly exposition last year in Monaco and at the same exposition this summer in Paris.It was a beautiful exposition with her hats,shoes, dresses,jewels ,her weeding dress which is marvellous ,and many photos and videos of her, and of course ,the oscar she won in The country girl.

 

[scriptgirl]

la presse

 

[Goyoaga]

Thanks for this photo .I am also interested in photos of princess Grace hard to find like this one.

 

[scriptgirl]

photos 12

 

[Goyoaga]

Thanks again,but The most difficult photos to find are of Grace as a princess not as an actress.

 

[scriptgirl]

scandinavian mags

 

[scriptgirl]

east news

 

[scriptgirl]

east news

 

[scriptgirl]

new york times

The Things They Carried

By LYNN HIRSCHBERG

Published: March 20, 2005

pparently, and reassuringly for those of us who have been known to splurge on them, there is a collective unconscious of handbags, a kind of archetypal shape memory that has existed throughout time and across continents. It seems that the impulse to carry just the right bag -- an Hermès Birkin or a limited edition Murakami Vuitton or whatever currently seems to signify your personality and taste to the world -- is not just a recent, Western preoccupation. In the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea, mountain dwellers would announce their wealth and individuality by hanging ornamental seashells from their woven bags, while now we dangle expensive doodads from a Prada crocodile satchel. The effect is the same: in the choice of handbag, image and utility merge.

That, for me, has always been the appeal of handbags. Ideally, they are both beautiful and useful, and more than any other item of clothing, they command attention and have no expiration date. I own over a hundred vintage handbags, ranging from 50's satin clutches to delicately beaded evening purses from the 30's to (my favorite bag) a dark brown crocodile satchel called the Pullman, which Hermès stopped producing in the early 70's. Having curated my own collection (a nice way of classifying what can only be viewed as an obsession), I was particularly intrigued by a recent exhibition at the Musée de la Mode et du Textile at the Louvre in Paris. The show, which closed last month, was, amazingly, the first anywhere to be devoted to the theme of handbags in a historical context and to examine handbags throughout the world and the ages. (An accompanying book, ''Carried Away,'' is being published this month by Vendome.)

The exhibition was organized not chronologically but according to archetype. For instance, a primitive bag woven of coconut fronds was juxtaposed with a nearly identical organza bag designed by Christian Lacroix years later for his 1994 haute couture collection. Similarly, the heavy antique carpetbags of a Moroccan nomad seemed to be the model for the Japanese designer Junya Watanabe's creations in 2000. The rectangular shape and construction of a generic 20's school bag made way for a Chanel purse with the same shape and as many straps. The designers at Hermes, who underwrote the show, seemed to be inspired by 19th-century saddlebags -- their rough, heavily grained leather and sturdy builds were replicated in the classic Kelly, which was designed around 1930 and named after Grace Kelly in 1956, when she used the bag to shield her pregnant stomach from photographers.

Of course, these late-20th-century designers did not study up on ancient civilizations before beginning to sketch. So then, how can you explain the influence of the past in other than Jungian terms? Using his psychological template, there are perhaps only a few handbag shapes that combine function and aesthetics, and they dominate throughout time. The pudgy lines of a doctor's bag can be seen again and again, from the leather travel case that was used by the conductor Nadia Boulanger to this year's chic and comforting red knit Vuitton, which was designed by Marc Jacobs. The decorative feathers, meant to ward off evil and indicate wealth in a Papuan satchel, are equally symbolic in the Fendi baguette, a style of purse that was so popular that it single-handedly revived the fortunes of an entire company. At the Louvre, there were many handbags that had a shamanistic quality. One witchcraft bag from the Papuan tribe featured animal bones, and there were African bags with beaded faces meant to ward off the evil eye. For spring, the designers at Gucci seemed to be channeling the human face: their gold-studded bag appears to have distinct eyes and an attractively large nose.

While there are always improbable bags -- a purse shaped like a telephone or a guitar or a ''disque'' -- those do not have the same enduring weight. That sort of novelty bag is a momentary lark without historical antecedents. Although they narrowly reveal their particular moment, gimmicky handbags have always interested me less. Like all symbolic indicators, the choice of handbag reveals character, and I have no desire to be seen as goofy. When you search your brain for iconographic fashion moments, the outfit being worn often fades from memory, but the image of the handbag endures. No one recalls what Grace Kelly was wearing when she was first sighted with the soon-to-be-named Kelly. History recalls only the bag. The princess and the Papuans seem to share an understanding: the bag has lasting power. Certain shapes command attention anywhere -- in the Middle Ages or next week.

 

[scriptgirl]

new york times
LIVES; Grace Notes
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By SANDRA FISH
Published: June 13, 2004
A few months after my second marriage ended, I stood alone in our bare apartment, newly divorced and broke in Los Angeles. No TV, no refrigerator, no stove. I had sold them all. I shuffled through the box my father gave me three days before he died. A photo of Charlie and Grace lay among the papers. Their eyes were full of wonderful mischief.

Charlie Fish, my father, dated Grace Kelly when he was a teenager in Philadelphia, which, of course, was Her Serene Highness's hometown. Charlie and Grace remained friends throughout her too-brief life. Charlie visited the palace in Monaco. Grace would visit Philadelphia; they would drink beer together. Charlie was penniless but dapper in his ascot. He would be written up in the papers as one of the best-dressed at galas. But I knew the truth. However great he looked, no matter whom he charmed, he still left when I was 4. Yet, he had given me the box.

Who knew that a year later I'd be making appointments with autograph dealers? I needed new head shots; Grace Kelly was going to help my acting career. The box smelled musty in a comforting sort of way. Not long after Charlie's father died in the summer of 1966, Grace wrote to him: ''To lose one's father makes one so suddenly and finally grown-up -- it comes as such a shock and leaves one feeling so lonely.'' I had just lost my own when I first read that letter in 1991.

After picking through the Yellow Pages, I found my first dealer. He was very eager to meet with me when I told him I had a small collection of handwritten letters from Princess Grace of Monaco. He told me he would meet me at a steakhouse off the freeway. Two men were waiting outside when I got there. The tall one with a mustache and a soft belly introduced himself but didn't invite me in. I had never peddled rare goods, so I wasn't sure what kind of teacher I had in this man. It didn't take long to find out. ''Did Grace mention affairs?'' he asked. ''She was supposed to have a thing for married men when she was in Hollywood.'' Dirt, he told me, is worth a lot.

I looked at him long; the pause made him shift legs, but I didn't speak as I squinted at him through my $4.50 sunglasses. I wanted to say these letters were notes to an old friend, about the news, recent trips and parenthood, peppered with the obvious fact that she had become a princess. She wrote to Charlie after one visit home, ''We have to spend so much time meeting people and making conversation and small talk with strangers, that it is a great relief not to have to make efforts.'' In another note, she wrote that her children were ''still correcting my French, but I can still make a noise like a parent and they take pity on me once in a while.''

The dealer broke my silence by offering to take the whole batch -- a dozen in all -- for $250 a pop. No, thank you. There's a whole section of the population who, when rejected, suddenly respect you. He became sincere.

The next day I had an appointment at a Beverly Hills gallery. It sounded posh, but living in L.A., I didn't expect too much from titles. Inside the gallery, exquisitely framed letters, photos, autographs hung floor to ceiling. I was drawn to the wall where I saw letters from Tennyson, Shaw and John Muir. At a soft-spoken hello, I turned to find a gentleman in a navy blazer, crisp white shirt and jeans. We sat on the Art Deco sofa, and the albums took their place on a low wooden table. He was gentle, as if he knew I needed tenderness right then. He reverently went through the letters and albums.

I told him about the steakhouse dealer and how he had told me that dirt was worth more. He said that unfortunately it was true. He pointed out that Shaw's letter was priced at $400. Michael Jackson's sneakers were $9,000.

He gave me a $100 bill for a signed postcard; it was a photo of the princess, prince and two of their small children. He gave me a check for $500 for a letter Grace had written about motherhood and pregnancy. He had good taste. When he walked me to my car carrying the cumbersome albums for me, it hit me how long it had been since I had felt treated like a lady. He even tried hard to act as if my 22-year-old VW Bug were a black BMW.

 

[scriptgirl]

usa today
Monaco steers clear of once-shifty image
By Jeffrey Stinson, USA TODAY
MONACO — Casino gambling. A fairy tale palace. Yachts in the harbor. The Monaco Grand Prix, which returns here this week for the famed Formula One auto race through Monte Carlo's streets and past its jet-set beaches.
Of all of the images that this tiny principality on France's Riviera coast evoke, there is one that its ruling monarch, Prince Albert II, son of Prince Rainier III and the American actress Grace Kelly, wants to erase.

That's British writer Somerset Maugham's description of Monaco as "a sunny place for shady people." Or, more to the point, the image that Monaco's penthouses offer refuge to scoundrels, and its confidential bank accounts provide a haven for laundered money.

"I don't want Monaco to be perceived that way," says Albert, 48, who, when he took Monaco's throne last July 12 after the death of Rainier in April 2005, declared that "money and virtue must go together."

Since then, Monaco has cracked down on what Albert calls "people who have had doings with illicit activities" and has declared persona non- grata anyone with a reputation that the prince doesn't care for.

"We're not going to tolerate the presence of people or allow people who are passing through to establish residency here if their reputation precedes them," Albert told USA TODAY in an interview in his office, which used to be his mother's, in a turret atop his palace. "I don't think we were always careful in the past. Now, we are."

In addition, Monaco has worked to comply with European Union banking regulations and to get itself off a list of allegedly "uncooperative tax havens," posted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Paris-based group of 30 nations, including the United States, that are committed to spreading democracy and market economies.

For instance, Monaco in the last year has:

• Told Sir Mark Thatcher, a son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, on Dec. 11 to leave this summer when his temporary visa runs out. Sir Mark had sought permanent residency in Monaco last year after being denied an entry visa to the USA following his conviction by a South African court for plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea.

• Frozen about $25 million from the local branches of two Swiss banks at the request in January of Sicilian authorities who prosecuted Francesco Zummo, a Sicilian businessman charged with aiding and abetting the Cosa Nostra, Italy's Mafia.

• Pressed ahead with the prosecution and trial of American William Hobbs Fogwell, his daughter Shelley and three other associates of the Hobbs-Melville brokerage firm based in Monaco. They were accused of defrauding up to 500 clients of about 140 million euros (about $170 million) from 1993 to 2000. Prosecutors are seeking five years imprisonment and fines of 90,000 euros (about $115,000) each against the Fogwells. A verdict is set to be announced July 12.

• Began on July 1, 2005, to comply with the European Union's directive to impose a withholding tax on the interest income of EU citizens earned in Monaco accounts and rebate it to the account holder's country. Monaco's government also agreed to provide bank account information on request in criminal or civil cases of tax fraud, while maintaining most confidentiality.

To enforce Albert's wish that Monaco shed its shady image, his government has beefed up its intelligence operation to monitor people's comings and goings and its accounting staff to scan the source of funds coming in to the principality.

"We have access, with certain intelligence, to where people come from and what their activities are," says Jean-Luc Allavena, director of Albert's Cabinet in this constitutional monarchy.

Allavena says that the principality responds quickly to every request from any nation about the source of money in Monaco bank accounts. In addition, he says, the 50 banks and 20 other financial firms here have been "sensitized" to the prince's desires. Bankers know that "you cannot just close your eyes and get money when it arrives," he says.

"There are a lot of good reasons for people to come here," Allavena says. "But we want people that are actively involved in life here. It's important that they know what the rules are."

A tiny strip of land

Monaco, a strip of land three-quarters of a mile long on the Cote d'Azur, is on the southeastern-most part of France. The principality is a little more than half the size of New York's Central Park.

Its beaches, yachts, the palace atop the hill, the grand casino, high-speed cars racing through the streets and even James Bond-like characters remain essential parts of the tiny nation.

This week, for instance, is the 64th Monaco Grand Prix, where Formula One drivers race through the streets past the beaches, harbor and beneath "the rock," where Albert lives and rules from his Palace Princier, as his Grimaldi family has since 1297.

The palace, the color of Grey Poupon mustard under the sun and pinkish under the lights at night, is where Albert's father, Rainier, whisked "America's princess," Grace Kelly, off to live after their 1956 royal wedding.

The drivers also will race their Formula One Ferraris, BMWs and Mercedes in streets below the winding mountain roads where Grace Kelly and Cary Grant were chased by police in the 1955 Alfred Hitchcock thriller To Catch a Thief. That's also where Princess Grace was killed in a car accident in 1982.

The grand casino is still here in Monte Carlo. The dinner jackets, however, have given way to tourist garb, just as gambling now comprises less than 6% of the principality's revenue. The number of tourists continues to rise — to 285,675 last year, up 14% from a year before. For 10 euros (about $12.75), visitors can enter the casino and receive two 5-euro chips with which to gamble. Retail and wholesale sales comprise about 39% of economic activity.

As for James Bond, well, one of the men who played him on film, British actor Sir Roger Moore, has a residence here. John Haly, a British expatriate and owner of the English-style pub Ship and Castle in the Fontvieille section of Monaco, says Moore is well known figure around the city. "I bumped into him buying bananas at the store," he says.

Dame Shirley Bassey, who sang the title songs to the Bond films Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever and Moonraker, also has a place here. Like Moore, she often is seen at many of the charitable balls and galas Monaco hosts annually.

One of Monaco's attractions for the British is that Monaco's residents pay no tax on personal income, capital gains or inheritance on personal trusts unless they are French nationals. French citizens in Monaco, a protectorate of France, must pay income and wealth taxes, as do all French.

About 6,000 British can be counted among Monaco's 32,000 residents, compared with about 300 citizens of the USA, whose tax laws don't make residency here that advantageous.

Monaco keeps tabs on who comes in by having guests surrender their passports at hotels, which send the information to a central registry to be checked. It also keeps track of anyone who might abuse its residency requirements — six months and a day in the principality each year — by checking utility bills and even telephone records.

There are other reasons Monaco is attractive to people who can afford the one-bedroom condos that can sell for an average of $1.3 million or three-bedroom condos that go for $2.9 million.

The principality, which has one police officer for every 100 residents, is considered safe. Uniformed police officers are in evidence, as are security cameras. "For every policeman you see in uniform, there are two in plain clothes," says pub owner Haly.

All of this adds up to a desirable place to live, says real estate broker Pierre Mare, who like many business people here supports Albert's efforts to clean up Monaco's image. Mare also approves of Albert's vision for this city-state for the 21st century.

An American-style executive

Albert, who has the title "His Serene Highness," or HSH, graduated in 1981 from Amherst College in Massachusetts and says he is "very proud of my American heritage." He has adopted a straight-forward American corporate-style of governing, with goals and strategies for achieving his vision.

He says he wants Monaco to be known for "excellence" in everything that it undertakes, not just as a clean and virtuous financial center free from its early 20th century reputation as an outpost for arms brokers, ousted royalty, Mafia, gamblers and other ne'er-do-wells.

"To have your country portrayed as a haven for scoundrels, if that's the word you want to use, I don't really like that," Albert says. "I want people to find excellence when they visit here."

He has plans to attract more light industry, bio-sciences and educational institutions, which will in turn help the principality develop higher-skill jobs through grants and tax incentives.

To help his principality grow, he plans a new commercial and residential addition outside the port area. As an ardent environmentalist who trekked to the Arctic last month to highlight concerns over global warming, Albert insists that the addition be built on pilings rather than landfill, and that none of the new buildings be higher than 10 stories so as not to disturb Mediterranean sea life. "Our limitations (in size) don't mean that we can't do things in the right way," he says.

"He is doing a very good job," Mare says of Albert's first year on the throne. "I'm not the only one who thinks so. He has new ideas and probably 30 years to do them. So, it's good."

 

[scriptgirl]

New York Times
NEW YORK BOOKSHELF; A Beautiful Roommate And Other Memories
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COMPILED BY C.J. SATTERWHITE AND MICHAEL MOLYNEUX
Published: June 27, 2004

BETTER THAN SANE: Tales From a Dangling Girl
By Alison Rose
Knopf
($23, hardcover)
Francine and I sublet a ground-floor apartment at 300 Central Park West in New York City. Francine made the living room -- dark furniture, heavy drapes -- her territory. She had trunks of clothes all over the place which her mother sent to her. Francine -- she's from Atlanta -- was so unnervingly beautiful that ugliness of all sorts fell to pieces wherever she was. It was as if someone had made her up, out of longing.

Francine was so pretty that people felt disoriented around her. She wasn't like a regular human girl. You could feel her spirit, and her startling kindness. She said to me, several times, ''You're so pretty -- your hair's like mink.''

The first time I ever saw her, in the fall of 1964, or a few months before, was in one of the dingy little white rooms in the Barbizon Hotel for Women, on Lexington. At the Barbizon, men were allowed in the lobby and in the dining room, but never upstairs. The elevator ladies wore belted brown uniforms, like guards in 1940's movies.

For generations, mothers had sent their daughters there, so they would be safe from men. One of Francine's aunts had been a roommate of Grace Kelly's at the Barbizon 25 years before. Francine's aunt had told her that Grace Kelly talked to herself in the mirror all the time.

 

[scriptgirl]

Morning call
Gown of Grace: Exhibit on princess' 1956 nuptials an elegant tribute to a Philly girl.

Byline: Frank Whelan

Apr. 2--In the two years that he was chaplain to the royal family of Monaco (July 1969 to July 1971), David Voellinger did many things with Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace, the Academy Award-winning, Philadelphia-born actress Grace Kelly. He swam in the royal pool (purified with ozone bubbles -- Voellinger compares it to "swimming in champagne"), ate ham sandwiches made for him by Princess Grace and met the occasional house guest -- David Niven, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, tennis player Bjorn Borg. In all that time together, Voellinger says, Rainier and Grace mentioned their wedding day only once. "We were having a private dinner in the family quarters of the palace with the children," recalls Macungie resident Voellinger, 67. "I can't even remember now what it was that brought it up." But 50 years later, Voellinger himself is reflecting on those nuptials, which took place on April 19, 1956, at the Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Monaco. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is commemorating the event with the exhibit "Fit for a Princess: Grace Kelly's Wedding Dress." The famous dress and other items from Kelly's storybook wedding, including a bridesmaid's dress, flower girl's dress and the lace-and-pearl-encrusted prayer book Kelly carried, will be on display through May 21. Princess Grace gave her dress to the museum in June 1956, just a few months after her wedding. It was formally presented to the museum by her parents. It remains the most popular piece of apparel in its collection of more than 30,000 items, says Kristina Haugland, the museum's associate curator of costumes and textiles. Haugland, who curated the exhibit, says the dress is kept in a climate-controlled storage area and only shown on special occasions.

 

[scriptgirl]

6abc.com
pril 27, 2006 -- Wedding season is almost here... So Action News is starting an occasional series, on all things bridal.

We begin this morning, with a wedding dress, fit for a princess. It is a fairy tale dress designed for a fairy tale wedding. It's the gown worn by Philadelphia's Grace Kelly in her wedding to Prince Rainier of Monaco 50 years ago this month. It's the centerpiece of a new exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Kristina Haugland/Phila. Museum of Art: "It's very detailed, but very simple... high neck, low sleeves... and was designed to really set off her beauty." Every top designer offered to make the dress, but the actress chose her team in Hollywood.

It was finally unveiled just two days before the wedding. Within 24 hours, copies of it could be found at every price point. But the original is home here in Philadelphia, a gift from a princess to her hometown. It continues to influence brides a half century later.

You can also see what her bridesmaids wore and even see a hidden secret inside her shoes! The exhibition continues until May 21.

 

[scriptgirl]

Box office prophets
6) To Catch a Thief

While I always appreciate Alfred Hitchcock as an auteur and one of the most stylish directors who ever worked in the realm of cinema, I believe that his best films were the ones that featured the resplendent Grace Kelly. Of the three films she did with the famed helmer, I prefer Rear Window, but we're not talking about thrillers this week. No, our topic is romance, and although To Catch a Thief contains a fair share of intrigue and mystery, its centerpiece is the sparks that fly between Kelly and Cary Grant.

Grant portrays John Robie, a former cat burglar who has retired from crime, but soon finds himself the prime suspect in a series of crimes taking place on the French Riviera. As he sets about trying to prove his innocence (and assisting an insurance investigator in his attempt to solve the crime), he encounters Frances Stevens, the lovely daughter of one of the vacationing noveaux riche. The chemistry between them is instantaneous, and the banter that they toss about is laced with innuendo and keen wit. Frances does become suspicious of John's motives (and justifiably so – he has lied to her about his identity and occupation), but that doesn't stop one of the iconic romantic scenes in movie history to occur. It may seem trite to those who have been watching romantic movies for years and years, but Hitchcock was the originator of the deep, heartfelt kiss that takes place against the backdrop of a massive fireworks display.

And yet, surprisingly enough, that's not even the film's climactic scene. That comes a fair ways later in the film, as John and Frances conspire to force the real criminal to reveal himself. The perceived heat between them plays heavily into their plans, and leads to an end scene that is giddy, humorous and altogether charming. Grant and Kelly really are among the best of the best. (Kim Hollis/BOP)



Whenever I am asked to name my favorite movie of all time, I inevitably receive the same awkward pause after I answer "To Catch a Thief." People look me up and down for a moment, trying to determine what my angle is. After all, a conformist would answer something stubbornly populist such as Star Wars, The Godfather or The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Those are nice, safe answers that casual acquaintenances deem acceptable. A cinephile would mention some Eastern European film no one can pronounce or reference some arcane title from the dawn of movie making. It makes them sound smart for some reason I've never quite understood. Even a Hitchcock elitist would answer something more legendary such as Vertigo, Rear Window or Psycho. Those are his most lauded creations, the safe selections as it were.

I have no problem with any of the options offered above. It's merely that I don't see the point in lying about the topic. None of them is my favorite. What I love is a classic Hitchcock romance which oozes wit and starpower. The movie that moves me like no other is To Catch a Thief.

The timing is the key. Rarely did Hitchcock delve into the world of shameless commercialism, but he had reached a crossroads in his career after Dial M for Murder and Rear Window. It was time to do something lighter, an entire movie extension of the flirtatious scenes from Rear Window. To accomplish this, he was going to need the most debonair man in the acting world. So, the first step was to reunite with the star of his 1946 release, Notorious. Fortunately, Cary Grant was available after a couple of Howard Hawkes projects. Meanwhile, Grace Kelly was ready to follow up the raves she had received for Rear Window by proving once and for all that she was the archetype for the ice queen blonde bombshell Hitchcock preferred. They are, in my opinion, the greatest male and female stars in Hollywood's long and illustrious history. With them signed on, the stars had aligned literally and figuratively for To Catch a Thief.

All that was left was a screenplay, and that was a snap since David Dodge's novel of the same title was recently released. Dodge was a famous mystery writer whose quirky entry into the industry is a popular anecdote in publishing circles. He grew so frustrated with the lackluster novel he was reading that he bet his wife he could write a better mystery. From there, a franchise was born as James "Whit" Whitney's Death and Taxes became a huge hit in the 1940s. It was his Hitchcock work that has proven to be his most lasting contribution, though.

To Catch a Thief tells the story of a reformed thief and World War II veteran whose war buddies suspect he is up to his old tricks once more. As a series of heists occur across the French Riviera, an insurance adjuster arrives in time to figure out if he owes a payout to a victim. He also hopes to prevent another rich widow from losing her jewels to the man known as The Cat. That woman proves to be the mother of a headstrong, impossibly gorgeous daughter who finds herself drawn to the man under investigation for the crimes. And the sparks fly from there.

I referenced in the listing for Notting Hill that it had one of the two most romantic scenes in movie history. To Catch a Thief is the other, and it's the scene that has become more legendary than the movie itself. The couple fences with words as they sit on the couch of a suite overlooking the French Riviera. It's a dance with danger for Kelly's character, Frances Stevens, as she boldly celebrates her attraction to the bad boy. For Grant's character, John "The Cat" Robie, it's a battle against temptation as he resists the urge to allow himself to be seduced by the American debutante he refuses to let in. As the two finally give in to their temptation and celebrate the glory of the moment, fireworks explode in the background. This was a hallmark cinematographic accomplishment of its era that has been copied innumerable times in the half century since its release.

I have seen over 10,000 movies in my lifetime. I have never seen one with the romantic chemistry possessed between Cary Grant and Grace Kelly in To Catch A Thief. That alone justifies its presence as one of the ten most romantic movies of all time. (David Mumpower/BOP)

 

[scriptgirl]

PR Web
April 30, 2006 -- Hermes is a high end leather goods and ready-to-wear manufacturer and retailer based in Paris, France. Founded in 1837 by Thierry Hermès as a saddlery company, the business has been owned by a family member ever since. Over the years, the company has expanded dramatically. In addition to traditional horse-riding accoutrements, the house of Hermès now produces haute-couture, home decor, jewelry, luggage, and fragrances. The company operates boutiques and franchises in 34 countries.

One of Hermès' most recognized products is the silk scarf. The first silk scarf square in the Hermès collection was produced in 1928, and in 1937 a dedicated scarf factory was established in Lyons. The modern Hermès scarf measures 90cm square, weighs 65 grams and is woven from the silk of 250 mulberry moth cocoons. The per-pound cost of a scarf today is approximately $1,965.00 (compared to a pound of steel at $0.19).

All Hermès scarves are hand-printed using multiple silk screens (up to 30, one for each color on the scarf) and the hems are all hand-stitched. Two scarf collections per year are released, along with re-prints of older designs and limited editions. Since 1937, Hermès has produced over 25,000 unique designs and the rarer scarves are much sought-after by collectors.

The ubiquitous Brides De Gala scarf, first introduced in the 1970s, has been sold over 70,000 times. An Hermès scarf is sold somewhere in the world every 25 seconds, global volume sales peaking in the late 1980s at over 1.1 million scarves. There has been some suggestion that the hijab controversy has dampened sales of women's headscarves, with Hermès volumes suffering as a result. New scarves retail at $320 and still account for a significant percentage of Hermès’ turnover.

Famous lovers of the Hermès scarf included Queen Elizabeth II (who wore one in a portrait for a British postage stamp in the 1950s), Grace Kelly (who used an Hermès scarf as a sling for her broken arm) Audrey Hepburn, Catherine Deneuve and Jacqueline Bouvier Onassis. More recently, Sharon Stone, Sarah Jessica Parker, Hillary Clinton, Elle McPherson and Madonna have all been snapped draped in Hermès silk.

In addition to fine silk scarves, men's neckties are made out of the same silks and with the same care. Their witty and frivolous patterns are popular with preppies and politicians alike, including US Senator John Kerry. Hermès ties cost $145.

Hermès handbags have always been coveted pieces of handmade leather craftmanship. Hermès does not use assembly lines, rather, only one artist may work on one handbag at a time. Because of the use of rare materials (sometimes including exotic skins such as alligator, ostrich, and crocodile as well as precious metals) and because only the highest quality craftmanship is accepted, one bag can take 18 to 24 hours to create.

The Kelly bag was named for Grace Kelly, who made it famous after appearing on the cover of Life in 1956 carrying the bag. Jacqueline Bouvier Onassis, another Hermès aficionado, preferred the Constance shoulder bag (with a double strap and large H clasp) or the Trim shoulder bag. Perhaps the most famous handbag, the Birkin, was named for actress Jane Birkin, who co-designed the bag with president Jean-Louis Dumas after complaining that her Kelly was not practical for everyday use.

More recently, due to media spotlight in television shows such as Sex and the City the Birkin Bag has become a symbol of ultimate luxury. Generally, these bags start at $5,000 and easily make their way into 5-digit figures. The waiting list for a Birkin is now over two years.

Hermes Bag are very pricey but there are still many fans coveting Hermes Bag, Therefore a website was created dedicated mainly to Hermes Bag at hermes-bag.com.

 

[scriptgirl]

Time and Life

 

[scriptgirl]

Ochs

 

[nmyngan]

Thanks again,but The most difficult photos to find are of Grace as a princess not as an actress.

i don't know if you browse through almost 250 pages of Grace's thread, i think there's a lot of rare pics of Grace both when she is an actress and also as an princess. I think this thread is one of the biggest picture store of Grace that you can found on Internet

 

[scriptgirl]

lewin collection