The Hermès Kelly is not the only piece of fashion iconography with which the actor-turned-princess is associated.
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Q: Which luxury fashion house owes credit to Grace Kelly for inspiring products that are still sold today? (It’s not Hermès.)
Scroll down for the answer…
A: Gucci!
Grace Kelly, who shot to Hollywood fame in the 1950s as one of Alfred Hitchcock’s favorite leading ladies, was also revered for her fashion sense on and off screen. It was around 1956, when she married Prince Rainier III of Monaco, that she popularized her now-namesake Hermès bag by using it to shield herself from paparazzi.
In 1960, as the story goes, the Princess of Monaco sought to expand her handbag collection with a bamboo-handle Gucci bag at the house’s Milan flagship. Wanting to gift Kelly something special to go along with the bag, Rodolfo Gucci (played by Jeremy Irons in 2021’s “House of Gucci”) commissioned Italian illustrator Vittorio Accornero to design a custom scarf. Inspired by her love of florals, the Gucci Flora print — containing 43 varieties of flowers, plants and insects and over 37 colors — was born.
Photos: Imaxtree
While not as synonymous with Gucci as, say, the check print is to Burberry, the Flora print was embraced emphatically by Alessandro Michele, whose first fragrance for the house was Gucci Flora. Used on clothing, handbags, housewares and as inspiration for campaigns and events, the print became a defining characteristic of the world Michele created around the brand. But now that he’s gone, and Gucci seems to be entering a less colorful era, we may have to bid the Flora aesthetic “arrivederci.”
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Source: Fashionista.com
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