Princess Caroline Pictures: 90s to this day - Part 2

[rosana]

Originally Posted by tbhrc

2 great portraits, I'm not sure but I think one of them has been posted before, but I have never seen the first one:

http://i12.tinypic.com/4th3ofl.jpg
http://i9.tinypic.com/6bx4f7o.jpg

I hadn´t seen any of them, thank you so much.

[iceflower]

The first portrait of the two you've found, tbhrc, was new to me and really like it,
it shows Caroline as a very strong woman with her feet firmly on the ground.

Here's a clipping with pics of Caroline at the annual flowershow in 1990:

Caroline 1990

[lea]

Originally Posted by iceflower

The first portrait of the two you've found, tbhrc, was new to me and really like it,
it shows Caroline as a very strong woman with her feet firmly on the ground.

Here's a clipping with pics of Caroline at the annual flowershow in 1990:

Caroline 1990

Great find iceflower! She looks lovely in the white suit!

[lazuli]

Tbhrc
those photos were taken in the summer of 1990 (July, i think) shortly before stefano's death. They were taken in Georgia (Tbilissi), where Caroline had gone with the Ballets de Montecarlo

[tbhrc]

Finally I have found 2 great versions of the photoshoot where Caroline was completely bald, have a look, she looks fantastic:

Pic 1

Pic 2

[iloveroyals]

I know it makes me sound square and everything, but I think she looks horrible. I never understood the beauty of the bald look. It just looks sick to me. I remember when these pictures first appeared in Paris-Match, they were hailed with "She's never looked so beautiful". And I thought , "Give me a break, she looked better with her glorious long hair". But that's just me.

[Tosca]

Originally Posted by iloveroyals

I know it makes me sound square and everything, but I think she looks horrible. I never understood the beauty of the bald look. It just looks sick to me. I remember when these pictures first appeared in Paris-Match, they were hailed with "She's never looked so beautiful". And I thought , "Give me a break, she looked better with her glorious long hair". But that's just me.

I agree with you, iloveroyals! She looked sick and sad in those pictures. I do not understand why she wanted to pose, perhaps she was trying to exorcize her illness, but IMHO an illness requires much more respect, even yours own.

[Grace]

I think one of the reasons Caroline decided to pose for these pics is that in those days there were wild speculations on the media part about the cause of her baldness (cancer, leukemia, etc..). So she probably figured posing for a mag was the best ways to prove she was "fine" and put an end to the speculation.

[iloveroyals]

Thank you both for your comments, and thank you, tbhrc, for posting those pictures. Like all of us on the forums, I am always deeply appreciative of all the pictures you post and respectful of your opinion.

Putting aside the paparrazi (sp) issue, I never had a problem with pictures of Princess Caroline bald in her daily comings and goings and with her children. In fact, I remember one picture of her in St Remy de Provence smiling very fondly as her children played and that smile was so sweet, so gentle, all you could focus on was the expression of tenderness toward her children.

What I have a problem with is the glamorization of illness, whether light or serious, and the exploitation (obviously agreed upon) of a media figure that seems designed mostly to proboke the oohs and aahs of a blase art world always craving something new and provocative that will also enhance the reputation of an avant-gardiste artist. The hype around these pictures was incredible. Suddenly, Caroline had become the reincarnation of Nefertiti, she had never looked so radiant (the number of times I have read "she has never looked so radiant", it loses its meaning after a while...), "her inner soul was exposed" (Is that necessarily a good thing ? Can we have a little privacy, please ? And if our "inner soul" must be exposed, I'd rather see it in the expression of love toward one's children :those paparrazi pictures really captured the essence of Princess Caroline in that moment, the archetypal mother).

I think I also dislike the idea that because it's Princess Caroline, her baldness is going to be something special, because she is such a special person, and she'll "pull it off" as nobody before her has been able to do. I have great admiration for her, but sometimes I feel "enough is enough". I feel the same way when she or her children wear something that would make anybody else look crass, vulgar, trashy, ordinary, etc, etc, but because it is Caroline or her children, "they can pull it off". Endowing royals with virtues that border on the magical or the divine is a throwback in time of how kings or emperors viewed themselves and wished to be viewed and it makes me uneasy.

[Grace]

Well, fact is Caro can actually pull off (in my opinion) many thing most people couldn't; there are some people with an innate elegance that can do things we would judge crass or trashy normally, but do it with an own style and self-assurance that make them "charming". (I don't know if Gianni Agnelli, the Italian businessman, is internationally known; he was one of these people, he had a daring fashion sense, but did everything with an attitude that showed he wasn't actually breaking fashion rules, but reinterpreting them). Of course at times the public is just ready to accept anything from a celebrity and that I don't like either, but in my opinion it is never the case with Caro who I consider, most of the times, in a league of her own, and truly able to pull off a lot.

[iloveroyals]

I agree that Princess Caroline is usually in a league of her own. But so are a few of my friends, except that not everybody in the world is aware of it, because their pictures are not splashed on the cover of international magazines. The point is, many people are in that sort of "league of their own", but weren't born into royalty or did not become movie stars. The idea of uniqueness is relative, relative to media awareness and promotion.

In my opinion, the pictures above reflect an aspect of Princess Caroline which is not her best feature : she has a tendency toward hardness, just as her sister has a tendency toward sadness. I can actually find charm in sadness, but it's more difficult to see charm in hardness. That's why I always feel Caroline is best when photographed with children, especially her own of course, or in love, because her face becomes much more gentle, her eyes take on a dreamy quality, as if she were completely at peace with herself or the world. When you add that to her innate elegance and gracefulness, then she becomes extraordinary. I am not trying to pass judgment here, and others may never perceive her as having a hard look, this is just my reaction. In any case, I don't fight this perception, I'd find it unhealthy in myself if however she looked, whatever she did, I'd always find her extraordinary.

In any case, it may have been what the photographer was after, that imperial, almost goddess-like (or god-like for she is quite androgynous there) haughtiness, as if she ruled, or reigned, far above us. But it's too obviously man-made myth-making, a photographer's fantasy of who she is. It's interesting that in a way, paparazzis give us our own fantasies of who the stars or royalty "really" are, what they do, etc, while artistic photographers give us theirs.

[lea]

I don't have a problem with Princess Caroline posing for photos while bald, I just happen to be of the opinion that the way she was posed in those photos wouldn't flatter her (or anyone else) even with a full head of hair! I get that "flattering" probably wasn't the point of the photos, but I'm not sure what the point was.

[Horseygal]

Originally Posted by lea

I don't have a problem with Princess Caroline posing for photos while bald, I just happen to be of the opinion that the way she was posed in those photos wouldn't flatter her (or anyone else) even with a full head of hair! I get that "flattering" probably wasn't the point of the photos, but I'm not sure what the point was.

Maybe she agreed to be photographed when she was bald to show that she is still elegant and regal - not embarrassed or trying to hide the fact that she was going thru something at that time (which resulted in her hair loss) - she didn't shy away from the public, and in fact, Hermes probably had some of the biggest scarf sales!!

[lea]

Originally Posted by Horseygal

Maybe she agreed to be photographed when she was bald to show that she is still elegant and regal - not embarrassed or trying to hide the fact that she was going thru something at that time (which resulted in her hair loss) - she didn't shy away from the public, and in fact, Hermes probably had some of the biggest scarf sales!!

You're probably right, it probably was to show she wasn't ashamed, and honestly she had nothing to be ashamed of. I think she looked fine, except that I do agree with iloveroyals in that those particular photos made her look arrogant or challenging rather than elegant or regal. (Sorry if I'm putting words into your mouth iloveroyals, I thought that was what you meant.) But that's just my opinion, who am I to say she shouldn't look arrogant or challenging if she wants to. I'm sure we all feel like that sometimes.

[iloveroyals]

Originally Posted by lea

You're probably right, it probably was to show she wasn't ashamed, and honestly she had nothing to be ashamed of. I think she looked fine, except that I do agree with iloveroyals in that those particular photos made her look arrogant or challenging rather than elegant or regal. (Sorry if I'm putting words into your mouth iloveroyals, I thought that was what you meant.) But that's just my opinion, who am I to say she shouldn't look arrogant or challenging if she wants to. I'm sure we all feel like that sometimes.

Let me put it this way. The photographs emphasized a feature, haugthiness, which came through because of the starkness and hardness of the angle. It was interesting and artsy, and "purified" so to speak, the essence of Caroline, or an essence of Caroline we are not used to, and which I personally don't like. Now, she has a right to like herself that way and to want to have an image of herself displayed that way, and we have a right to like it or not. I can speak of "right" comfortably here since she chose to have herself photographed and sold commercially that way.

The Caroline I like, and that may be my own limitation, is, as I've said before, one that expresses the best of femininity : grace, elegance, gentleness. Her spirit and strength of character always shine through. But to me, these pictures are reductive, not all-inclusive (of all her traits).

If someone has the paparazzi pictures taken of her in Saint-Remy de Provence (I remember they were published in Hola at the time, but I don't think I have the clippings), it would be interesting to compare. She was wearing a kind of beige or grey cotton summer pant and top that made her look like she was in a concentration camp. But she was looking at her children playing, but it was like the Chesthire (sp?) cat, all you saw was the purified gentleness of her face with that half-smile.

To answer the last part of your post, yes, we must all feel arrogant and challenging at times. But unless I want to scare my students into working harder, I'm not going to choose these pictures to represent me ! I'd choose a photographer who can capture the great complexity of my personality...

[Vera Friedel]

I read she lost her hair due to depression and anxiety. Is that true?

[flowerpower]

Princess of Elegance!
at an event I don’t remember, but it was in winter of 1991, the year Stefano pass away…
Caroline

Caroline dress

[cdm]

I think it was in the beginnings of 1990. I saw pictures of that same evening and Stefano was present as was Ernst-August!