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Jayne Dawson: Frocks that rock
Old frocks are very much in the news right now: There's that Grace Kelly exhibition in London showing all the fabulous dresses of the actress who was the Cheryl Cole of her day – sort of.
Granted, she was an actress not a singer, American not a Geordie, married to a prince not a footballer and definitely not a British National Treasure, so maybe she was more of a Victoria Beckham. Anyway, she had great, swoon-inducing style with her tight-waisted, full-skirted, oh-so-chic look.
And all without benefit of a stylist. Plus, she also did her own nails and hair. And never went anywhere without a hat and a pair of gloves. The two might not be entirely unconnected.
But there are more frocks around than merely the Kelly wardrobe. A poll of our views on the greatest frocks in history has also been published to mark the release of the second Sex and the City film. I'm not sure I agree with all of the nation's choices, but some of them are not bad, I suppose. Audrey Hepburn came in tops with the black dress that launched a billion other "little" black dresses in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's, and Keira Knightley was second for her 1930s-style, emerald green dress in the film Atonement which was, I agree, a humdinger of an outfit.
To add to the general frock-fest, the dress Princess Diana wore to her first official big night out with Prince Charles, post engagement, is going up for sale. Those of us old enough to remember the young Princess Diana remember that frock. One minute she was being introduced to the world as a shy nursery nurse the next she was a shy nursery nurse showing a gob-smacking amount of bosom. The hair still said nursery nurse, the bare bosoms said something else entirely. If ever a dress shouted "you've got the wrong idea about me" that one did. Now it's almost 30 years old,expected to sell for 30,000 and a piece of social history, as all the best, most famous frocks are.
I love an old frock. Always have done, though there comes a point when you have to stop wearing them, which is the point when your face looks older than your old dress.
For my own wedding, conducted for less than the price of Princess Diana's confetti bill probably, I wore a very old frock. Correction: for the actual ceremony I wore a scratchy lace-curtain affair, but for the evening do – because in those days, by the time she was lifting her first relaxing, post-formalities pint, a bride had changed back into civvies – I wore Olive's old dress, which she first wore back in the early 1950s.
It was tight-waisted, full-skirted and made of Nylon, a fact it trumpeted loudly and proudly on its label, Nylon clearly being a fabric to boast about back then.
It was a bold choice but I loved it, and I don't think anyone noticed the little tear or the unmatching buttons. In fact it was very Grace Kelly, except I didn't wear the little white gloves. Plus to my knowledge, Grace Kelly didn't have her wedding party at Bramley Rugby Club, but apart from that...
It's all very trivial, except a frock can be, I hesitate to say life-changing, but in fact it can be.
Would Elizabeth Hurley be selling bikinis and giving interviews from her farm, very much channelling Marie Antoinette, if it wasn't for her greatest frock moment? I think not.
One day she was Hugh Grant's girlfriend, the next she was wearing that Versace safety pin number, and Hugh was Elizabeth Hurley's boyfriend.
In the days of the Spice Girls, Geri Halliwell, always determined to be the one who stood out, had her moment in that Union Jack dress. And hats off to her, except of course she wasn't wearing one. Just platform boots and a T-shirt as a dress.
And a frock can make up for a lot. Always has done. Queen Elizabeth, the first one that is, continued to wear frocks that were world-beaters, studded with enough precious stones to take your eye out, long after her face had been ravaged by age and foundation based on poisonous white lead.
But it's harder now. Everybody's seen everything. And there's Lady Gaga, hardly ever seen without a teapot on her head and a dress in the shape of a slice of Battenberg , or whatever.
And there is so much disposable fashion, stuff that won't last three washes, never mind three decades. I'm not complaining too much, Primark has brightened our cash-strapped lives considerably, but vintage Primark is going to present its own challenges vis a vis longevity.
Plus there are so many lovely women wearing so many stunning frocks, all chosen by stylists and all designed to suit a body remoulded into the shape of a pre-pubescent girl.
There are regular frock face-offs between Amanda Holden and Cheryl cole and Dannii Minogue and even the odd politician gets in on the act – I'm thinking former Europe minister Caroline Flint, who had her fashion moment with a magazine spread just before her resignation moment in the long ago, far away days of Gordon Brown's premiership – already feels that way, doesn't it.
Caroline is a good reminder, actually, that a frock can take you far but, in general and rather sadly, it is suits that change the world.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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