Estate / Collection: The Collection of EJ Gonzalez

EDITH HEAD

Original wedding dress design intended for Grace Kelly. Circa 1955. Pencil and gouache on paper, showing Grace Kelly wearing a custom wedding dress. Signed by Edith Head in pencil in the lower left corner, and with additional pencil inscriptions including. "Grace Kelly," "Lace free at neck," and various others regarding the dress color and the lace, some of which have been crossed out, the figure crossed out with a large 'X' in pencil. The full sheet measures 17 x 14 inches (43 x 35.5 cm). Framed. Faint soiling and creasing, as per usual with Head designs, small loss to the lower right corner, top edge irregular with remnants from a spiral-bound notebook, faint toning along edges.

A rare and important Edith Head sketch for an unrealized wedding dress intended for Princess Grace of Monaco. Given her close friendship and many collaborations with Hollywood star Grace Kelly, Edith Head had assumed that she would be the one to design the wedding dress for the actress' April 1956 marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco, an event dubbed "the wedding of the century." However, Head was on contract at Paramount and Kelly was at MGM, so Kelly instead chose the costume designer at her home studio, Helen Rose. That dress, broadcast to over 30 million viewers by MGM in exchange for ending the star's contract, became one of the most iconic dresses of the twentieth century. It was a dress fit for both a princess and a movie star—timeless yet modern, modest yet feminine. Interestingly, Edith Head's design, offered here, and the Helen Rose dress, now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, are remarkably similar in many of their major design elements. They both consist of a lace bodice that is transparent around the shoulders and arms, a long pleated skirt, a pleated skirt support and a long veil. The high-necked collars on both designs are also nearly identical. The only major difference between the two designs is that Head's has an above-the-elbow sleeve rather than a long sleeve. Edith drew a large "X" through this design when she was not chosen for the project, perhaps a bit frustrated by the outcome. She did get some consolation, however, in that she designed Kelly's morning suit for the day after the wedding, which the newly-crowned Princess wore as she embarked on the royal yacht for her honeymoon.

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