Why not Grace...?

I love Grace Kelly. Watching her breeze into James Stewart's apartment in Rear Window always takes my breath away. I wanted to emulate her perfectly modulated voice, graceful movements, and cool, sophisticated sexiness.

Those 50's dresses with their tight bodices and petticoated skirts--the perky hats and elegant gloves-- screamed femininity. And on her they looked perfect. In her heyday, Grace usually played the independent (albeit rich) working woman.

So why is she not mentioned these days as a fashion icon along with her contemporary, Audrey Hepburn?













After Grace married her prince, she committed the biggest fashion faux pax of them all. She allowed herself to become stodgy and matronly. Here's a comparison of Grace and Audrey in the 60's. Ever fashion forward, Audrey never stopped being fabulous. Towards the end of her life, Grace was wearing muumuus and turbans.

One fabulous woman

Laura Bennet, my favorite runner up from Project Runway 3, was interviewed by Jill Hudson Neal for the Washington Post on October 31. Here are two of my favorite Laura quotes from the article:

"I'm also into quality as opposed to quantity. I'd rather wear four dresses over and over again than to have ten dresses that aren't made as nicely and don't fit as well. Don't worry that someone's going to say, "Didn't you wear that last week?" Well, yeah, I did actually. What's the big deal?"

"I want to keep encouraging women to take the time to take care of themselves and spend a few extra minutes on themselves in the mornings and see if it doesn't benefit their families by boosting their own self-esteem and nourishing their own souls."

Ickea

Last year when my German girlfriend came to visit she glanced at our local Ikea store as we drove by and sniffed, "That's so over."

At that moment I knew Ikea had crossed the line from trendy to mainstream. Comments on Project Rungay about Laura Bennet's fabulous loft also had that whiff of superiority about them, as if Ikea was no better than the Door Store or, gasp, WalMart.

The turning point for any fashionable icon, however well conceived, is when it enters the mainstream of satire, as with this treatment of a bus stop.

Ikea coffee table, anyone? 'Nuff said.