history friday?

Don't worry, this won't be a boring history lesson. I was just trying to decide what to blog about today, and I thought, why not see some dresses from history past? Two of my favorite dresses of all time are Jacqueline Kennedy's dress from her 1953 wedding to JFK.

Can you believe that they had 1200 people at their reception at Hammersmith Farm! It was the childhood summer home of Jackie in Newport, Rhode Island. At one time it was open to the public, but now belongs to the guy who owns Fruit of the Loom (just an interesting tid-bit of information you can bring up at your next cocktail party).

My other favorite all-time dress is from Grace Kelly's weddings to Prince Ranier of Monaco in 1956. They were first married in a civil ceremony (which she preferred) and were married again the following day in a Catholic ceremony. Apparently they were not allowed to look at each other during the church ceremony.

images from Yale Press

Grace's dress was a gift to her from MGM studios. Her entire wedding was even planned by MGM studios. When she became engaged, she had 7 years left in her contract. Prince Ranier did not want her to continue acting, so to get out of her contract, they allowed MGM to film the wedding for a television audience. 30 million people watched her become a princess. Her last film "High Society" was released after her wedding, and was not allowed to be shown in Monaco. Incidentally, this is like the best movie ever!

The costumes are amazing, and it's pretty funny to boot. I also think that she wore her real engagement ring from Prince Ranier (10 carats, emerald cut!), but not entirely sure, so don't quote me on that. Be sure to rent this one, it's awesome!