Grace Kelly Wedding Dress

It took me 23 years to share my wedding photos to the public.  I've loved Grace Kelly's Classic Style for 27 years.  It started when I purchased a book by name of "GRACE" The Story of a Princess by Phyllida Hart- Davis.   I totally and completely fell in love with Princess Grace's  wedding gown and this will also be my style too.  I found a seamstress who could make this dress but there was one condition, she needed know how this dress was constructed and needed a pattern or guideline on how to put this beautiful dress together.  I didn't have the internet to research on this dress so my only hope was the Philadelphia Museum of Art they very helpful in making this dress possible for me.  I will always be grateful to them for their help.

I also had my bridesmaids were a similar copy of one of Grace Kelly's movies High Society.  I used the dress that she was getting married to Bing Crosby.

Finishing Touches

During the religious ceremony, Princess Grace carried this gilt-edged book, which contains a small crucifix inside the front cover.  It is filled with prayers, hymns,meditations, and other information related to recent pontifical decrees.  The book is covered with silk faille neatly  affixed under the decorated endpapers and appliqued with the same rose point lace used for the bride's dress.  A border is formed by one of the lace motifs-stylized leaves made with alternating open and dense lace stitches-white roses with relief petals grace the corners.  Seed pearls accent the lace and form a cross on the front.

A small piece of the precious lace to  the matching dress .  The shoes are classic pumps with 2 1/2 inch high heels.  Grace Kelly's bridal shoes do contain one secret.  Grace has requested that the traditional copper penny for good luck be hidden in the construction of the shoe.

The Completed Wedding Gown

Grace worn an ivory gown and veil were made from 25 yards of peau de soie, 25 yards of silk taffata, 100 yards of silk net and 300 of lace.  The veil was sewn with myriad tiny pearls.  The fitted bodice had long, tight sleeves with scalloped wrists, and buttoned down from the high neckline to the waist.  The skirt was very full, and has ten-foot train.

The Wedding Cap

The wedding cap, designed to match the bridal dress perfectly, is made from the same rose point lace and embellished with lustrous seed  pearls.  A wire framework supports the delicate lace, which, like the lace of the dress bodice.

The Construction Of The Wedding Gown

Making Grace Kelly's wedding dress required the special skills of several suddepartments: women's wardrobe, which had a staff of thirty-six, including cutters and fitters, drapers, and seamstresses.



Final Sketches for Grace's Wedding Gown

Miss Rose customaily made only a rough sketeches of a costume design gowns, and her assistant rendered the final color drawing.  Here are some of the Wedding Gown Sketches.

Helen Rose's Similar Idea for Grace Kelly's Wedding Gown

The disign for the dress was traditional in many ways, but it could also be considered something of a departure in bridal wear.  Indeed, when Helen Rose used a similar idea in 1952 for Dorothy McGuire's character in MGM's melodrama Invitation, she was said to have "upset style tradition by turning out something brand new in a wedding gown.  The for the film consisted of a rose point lace blouse and a skirt that were "welded together" by a separate cummerbund.  The supposed advantage of the design was that, after the marriage ceremony, the blouse could be worn with a smart dinner suit and  could be paired with other blouses for formal wear.

Helen Rose the Designer

When Helen Rose received the assignment to design Miss Kelly's wedding gown, both of them were very busy with High Society.  Princess Grace later said, " I explained to Helen the kind of line and look I wanted, with gros de longre (sic) skirt and lace blouse, and, as usual, she came up with something that far surpassed my imagination and hopes.

The Beautiful Princess Grace

Many elements of Grace Kelly wedding attire-delicate pearl bedecked lace, an extravagantly full, trained skirt, a gracefully flowing veil, and a crownlike cap are still considered the ultimate in romantic bridal fashion