Grace Kelly: Style Evolution (PHOTOS)

Stylelist | By Jada Wong | Become a fan | Posted: 11/11/11 04:40 PM ET | Updated: 11/12/11 09:07 PM ET

Grace Kelly’s ascent from actress to the Princess of Monaco sounds more like a movie than real life. The Philadelphia native starred in films like “Mogambo” and “The Country Girl," for which she won an Oscar, before catching the eye of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco. And the rest is history.

Kelly favored feminine frocks, statement coats and her eponymous Hermès bag, so in honor of what would have been the actress’ birthday on Saturday, we’re looking back on her classic outfits on and off the big screen.

And have a look through our many other Style Evolutions here.

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fabfashionbuyscom

1 Fans

07:00 PM on 11/13/2011

Grace Kelly is my all-time favorite style icon. Seems like she didn't even have to try hard. fabfashionbuys.com

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fabfashionbuyscom

1 Fans

06:59 PM on 11/13/2011

My All-Time favorite style icon. fabfashionbuys.com

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Y Woodman Brown

live & let live

3169 Fans

05:34 PM on 11/13/2011

She was it...the absolute exemplar of a woman--of a lady.

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jdwright62

118 Fans

03:58 PM on 11/13/2011

I just love Grace Kelly. Talk about style and elegance. We have yet to see her match. I think I'll watch "Rear Window" as my Sunday treat.

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kel

74 Fans

03:57 PM on 11/13/2011

Love the rowing pictures. Our children row along Kelly Drive.

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henriette and hube

love just is; golden in it's simplicity

881 Fans

01:52 PM on 11/13/2011

They just don't make them like Audrey Hepburn and Princess Grace anymore. Now they're all plastic surgeon make overs with bulging over the top implants. Whatever happened to natural beauty?

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Francois Bergeron

seeking sense

1117 Fans

01:56 PM on 11/13/2011

quite right. Loved them. They were the women of my dreams.

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thearubagirl

Moderation sucks.

127 Fans

12:37 PM on 11/13/2011

...and no fake boobs!

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Meldy1

Nurse,(I don't work anymore!)&Pianist

453 Fans

12:33 PM on 11/13/2011

There was only one Princess Grace de Monaco,style of elegance and grace....Une princesse agreable...magnifique avec elegance...

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arianaart

There is no sensible way to do a senseless thing.

365 Fans

12:07 PM on 11/13/2011

Grace Kelly was always beautiful, stylish and elegant. She was a class-act!

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oceanofconsciousness

Dogs Against Romney (Cats, too)

1413 Fans

11:53 AM on 11/13/2011

Stunning woman and a class act all the way.

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Davis Emerson

0 Fans

11:48 AM on 11/13/2011

Queen of beauty and European Casino biz. Wish those casinos would book our band. http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_10973434

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naschkatze

A free man creates himself.

2054 Fans

11:40 AM on 11/13/2011

To me Grace Kelly and Catherine Deneuve look very alike--super beautiful, of course.

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LMPE

I connect the most dissimilar things

1544 Fans

01:59 AM on 11/13/2011

Grace Kelly gave all of Philadelphia a good name!

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syds180turn

Independent and Proud of It!

327 Fans

11:19 PM on 11/12/2011

Yes Grace Kelly was an elegant woman and a very well respected actress, but the fact remains that she had flaws just like everyone else. She made questionable decisions regarding men and she gave up her career even-though, as it's been documented, she still had a desire to act. As for some of our present day actresses, there are some who have their own style, class and elegance. Such as Anne Hathaway, Halle Berry, Meryl Streep, Charlize Theron, Angela Bassett, Kate Winslet and the list can go on and on. You can't compare the era in which Grace Kelly lived with how we live today...just because we have Snookie, Kim Kardashian and Lady Gaga, doesn't mean that everyone born post old Hollywood Glamour is inferior. It's great to wax poetic on a bygone era, however you forget that though those women were lady-like, well dressed and embodied femininity, those times were oppressive, sexist in addition, women were considered second class citizens and were look upon as being good for only two primary responsibilities...motherhood and sex. As I said, Grace Kelly still thought that she could continue her career, but Prince Rainier put an end to that very quickly and she was allegedly resentful as a result. We're in the 21st century and times have changed: we can't spend our days in pumps, pearls and behaving like June Cleaver. We have busy lives and careers to pursue. Love Grace Kelly, but that day is done.

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Beth Horne

24 Fans

02:36 AM on 11/13/2011

The times have changed, I agree with you there, but the fact remains that Grace Kelly dressed and acted with class. She looked like a lady, and ended up being a real life princess. I am sure she probably did want to continue her acting career, but she played a much greater role in her life than could have ever been written for her on any screen. She was the dream that millions of little girls kept in their hearts, and it was a happy one! If you were graceful, had good manners, and presented yourself like a lady, one day your prince (whether with an actual title or not) would really come.

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syds180turn

Independent and Proud of It!

327 Fans

10:21 AM on 11/13/2011

That's pure fantasy and is somewhat detrimental to young girls...you've got to be this sacrosanct, virginal person to land your "prince charming". Why not , get an education, foster your career and if you find someone that's nice, kind and makes you laugh... great, then if not...life goes on? We do we need a prince to ride in on his white stallion to make our lives happy and complete? Why can't we do this ourselves? And as was fully discovered and reported on, Grace Kelly's marriage wasn't the picture perfect romance that most thought. It is well documented that Prince Rainier cheated on her several times throughout their marriage...she also left him for a bit and moved to Paris and she sat on ABC News before she died and stated that she was resentful about not being able to continue her acting career. Grace Kelly was the epitome of beauty and elegance however that was then and this is now...women do not have to conduct ourselves in any way other than what's comfortable for us.

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Beth Horne

24 Fans

02:36 AM on 11/13/2011

The examples you put in your post I do not feel are positive for young women. Halle Berry got her Oscar, but it took being in a movie that showed her naked and perfoming a very explicit sex scene. She dresses in little more than whisps of cloth, leaving nothing to the imagination. Her love life has reflected divorce, heartbreak, having a child out of wedlock, and her sexuality has overshadowed her amazing talent. That is just one of those you have listed. Every other woman in your list has been either partially or fully nude in their movies. I feel that we degrade women more now sexually than we care to admit.

Yes, we have the Snookies and Kim Kardashians who have no talent yet are continually in the press, but at least Lady Gaga is talented, and I can almost put her nudity as merely part of her act, a way to get more attention and sell tickets. I don't condone it, I would find her just as talented without it. But men don't have to get naked to make a movie, nor to sell concert tickets. It all makes me sad and sickens me. Freedom of expression doesn't always have to mean showing the world every inch of your body...and honestly I love the old movies where the acting and story count and nobody has to strip.

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syds180turn

Independent and Proud of It!

327 Fans

10:39 AM on 11/13/2011

You are in denial...those women did primarily the same things that women do today, however, the studios system kept it out of the media. Only now has it been discovered and discussed, their dalliances, sex lives and the like. It is a well known fact that Grace Kelly had numerous affairs with her leading men...married or not as well as other men around Tinseltown. It was a different era and people kept their indiscretions undercover. Women today don't really have to answer to anyone...do I agree with the idea that one must look like a two dollar hooker to be successful... absolutely not. But, the entertainers today have every right to create whatever personae they choose. That's the beauty of living in a democracy. Look, I wasn't born during the Grace Kelly era though I am fascinated by the people who were. However, as much as some people would like to think that this was a good time to be a woman, it wasn't. Women were oppressed and treated like unintelligent, weak, second class citizens and that is not an environment I nor anyone else I know could survive in. Women were literally their father's property first, then handed off to their husbands like chattel. Women had little to no rights and though we have our share of nitwits, that era is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

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Debbie L Garrison

4 Fans

10:12 PM on 11/12/2011

Grace Kelly was one of my favorite starlettes when i was growing up. Truely a great woman who was admired not just for her looks style or acting abilities to me it was like WOW who'd ever thought an actress could rule the world.(country) To me was all the proof i needed. I still watch the her movies. RIP

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