As Grace Kelly proved to be one of the most amazingly gifted actress of all time, she also rose to fame as a fashion icon as well. If it weren’t for Alfred Hitchcock who found her out of obscurity, we would not be able to enjoy her films that that centered around her many fashion changes. She never outdid her co-stars though, even when she played the role of a Quaker in the classic western movie High Noon with Gary Cooper and Katy Jurado.

She showed that her absolutely nominated performances could not withhold her classic looks. She wore graceful gowns and even used the designs of Edith Head and Helen Rose, to name a few. The gown she once wore to the Oscars in 1955 was magical, icy blue and complimented her stealth style. Long after her many red-carpet arrivals, she wore a beautiful wedding gown for her marriage ceremony with Prince Ranier in 1956. Her beautiful white gown was designed by Helen Rose, fitting that Kelly would look to her own costume designer from her many films including The Swan. Continuing on to the Emerald Gown she wore for St. Patrick’s Day in 1954 or the many glorious gowns she adorned in many of her three films she did with Alfred Hitchcock including the famous Dial M for Murder, To Catch a Thief” and “Rear Window” with the great Jimmy Stewart, the Kelly look is recycled and easily attainable by the modern woman to no glorious end.

Not only did she surprise us with her acting chops but delivered a stealth blonde look. If it wasn’t at all hard to play a stealth blonde, she proved to everyone in Hollywood that you do not necessarily have to show a lot of skin to get noticed, that modesty is always just as sexy as being immodest. If she wasn’t as humble as she was on screen and in real life, there would possibly not be a princess bride– just another face of the screen, another actress.

Unlike those blond and bubbly actresses of yesteryear, she was the opposite. Actresses like Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield heightened the “dumb blonde” trend in films of the 50’s, but it was Kelly who rose above as a classic beauty, one whose memorable fashion moments are still embodied. A favorite example is of actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who copied her look with a bubblegum pink gown at the 1998 Oscars for her Academy Award winning performance in the movie Shakespeare in Love.

It is no wonder that many other celebrities would follow suit. Despite the protests from Audrey Hepburn followers, Grace Kelly fans still challenge, bringing up the long-lived debate of who wore it better, Audrey Hepburn or Grace Kelly? As wonderful and divinely styled both icons even out to be, there’s no denying that in the end, Grace Kelly is America’s princess and Hollywood royalty, not just a fashionable face of her time.    

by Veronica Felipe

Twitter @vfelippe99