GRACIOUS KELLEY

The new Vanity Fair is all about her Serene Highness (I used to wonder as a child - did this mean she wasn't allowed to be mad?), Princess Grace. I'd just finished reading a bio of her over my vacation, one short on text and heavy on pictures - as any book about her should be. That was the same week I visited the Princess Diana Exhibit, so it was a few days of heavy princess-ing. The contrast between Grace's bio and Diana's exhibit was that, despite the pressures and restrictions of royal life, Grace's movie-star background stood her in good stead. She was always a hard worker and a quick study, and that famous self-discipline made her much stronger than the younger and inexperienced Diana in the harsh glare of public scrutiny.

Below, one of the best of Grace Kelley's fashionable moments:  the movie Rear Window. The movie is memorable for a number of reasons. It was a wonderful confluence of talent (Hitchcock, Jimmy Stewart, Thelma Ridder, Raymond Burr) filmed almost entirely in a single setting, Stewart's tiny apartment, with its window-with-a-view. But the costumes are the most memorable of all. Designed by the notoriously gifted Edith Head, each one is so breathlessly arresting, they practically steal the scene.

A stunning green three piece suit - note the wrap blouse finally revealed beneath.

Here's the stunning nightgown scene, which drives poor Jimmy into a fluster.

A perfectly proper Grace in florals, watching anxiously with Thelma Ridder.

A very chic black evening gown. Wouldn't it also look lovely without the sheer sleeves?

The most famous dress from the movie:  a black v neck, with a corresponding v back,

cap sleeves, and a gorgeous pouf of a skirt ringed with feathers.

Jimmy appears to be suffering terribly.

Images, the IMBD database. Vanity Fair Cover, vanityfair.com.