Princess Caroline's Fashion & Style, Part 2: July 2010 - May 2012 - Page 9

Renata4711 · #**161** 08-06-2011, 03:50 PM

Great post, Iloveroyals ....I love the "newly-minted royal" :-))

Opal · #**162** 08-06-2011, 08:00 PM

Sorry, there is just too much going on with this dress.

gerry · #**163** 08-06-2011, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by An Ard Ri

Awful looking outfit,what was Caroline thinking

That the night was Charlene's.

Alondra · #**164** 08-06-2011, 08:50 PM

I love Carolina's dress. It's different. The vividity of the contrasting colours gives her a radiance, a sparkle I've missed from her in the last few years.

The thing with fashion is that all of us have our own style and preferences. I much prefer a woman that is confident in her individuality and takes risks, than one that wears the tried and sure without taking any of those risks.

IloveCP · #**165** 08-07-2011, 03:51 AM

Was was she thinking at the ball!

dazzling · #**166** 08-07-2011, 11:30 AM

The dress is different but that doesn't mean it is nice. The prints somehow work but I don't like it. It reminds me of what quite an older lady would wear with a lot of gold/diamonds to a St.Tropez party. I also find it a bit too beach looking party dress.

pruts · #**167** 08-07-2011, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iloveroyals

I like Caroline’s gown because 1) it’s not black, 2) I like the jewel colors, they make a great contrast to Charlene’s solid ruby or jewel color, 3) the look of the dress reminds me of the Riviera in the sixties and seventies when bold colors and prints were popular and evening dresses could take on a touch of the exotic and daring. It is a gown that should shimmer in the evening lights, either in a ballroom or by the swimming-pool. Granted Caroline should probably have left it to wear at the next Circus festival, or a less formal occasion. But if she is going to be experimental, better this African designer than one of Lagerfeld’s hallucinations in black, as in that supposedly Spanish theme a few years ago, where Caroline was dressed in black lacy rags stitched together as I recall. She looked like a witch but because it’s Princess Caroline, “only she could pull it off”. There was nothing to pull off. This refrain is back now and is inane. Italian ladies of a certain aristocratic heritage could pull it off, not because they are Italian or aristocratic but because they are Mediterranean with a more experimental tradition and flair than their counterparts in Spain or France. Lagerfeld will never understand the Riviera feel and Caroline does well to choose another style, which befits her dark hair and Italian face better. In fact she reminds me of Olimpia de Rotschild nee Aldobrandini when she was young. Granted also, Caroline may be a bit old to wear it, but her figure is great and it’s covered from head to foot. And myabe she's thinking "When I am old I shall wear purple" for those of you familiar with that book. Also, thank God, she doesn’t have to contain fake balloons which make it so hard to dress. (...) So, can’t a fifty-four year old woman wear a playful, colorful motif in August in Monaco especially when the crown jewel is now Charlene? And of course the blue in the dress sets off the now delicate blue of her eyes. I don’t rave often about Caroline’s style anymore (her wedding choices were so blah, one too old, one too young, I wouldn’t have known what to say), but for me this was a winner. The mood of the gown reminds me of her second Red Cross Ball in 1974 when she was 17. Back in those days, children attended too. What a loss for the image of Monaco. But it might have been to let the newly-minted Princess Charlene be in the spotlight.

Amen! Love from Pruts!

ChantalC · #**168** 08-09-2011, 11:18 AM

I don't like Caroline's gown. The print and colour of her gown is horrible.

Hopefully, she chooses a better gown next year.

iloveroyals · #**169** 08-09-2011, 05:20 PM

Somehow, I always end up in the minority, so here goes anyway.
I looked at The FashionSpot, Caroline de Monaco thread, p 13, post 185 by KKrardi, you click and get big pictures. I was once again blown away by Caroline's gown. How about we say, Caroline could wrap herself in drapes (or a tablecloth) and she'd still look gorgeous. (Think Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, when she takes down the curtains to make herself a dress. Wouldn't Caroline have made a beautiful Scarlett? ) Anyway, the business about wrapping anything around her and coming out a winner is nonsense and perhaps, color-deprived as I am where I live, I'll fly to colors like a moth to the light. But the large pictures from TFS showed (to me) how queenly Caroline can be. Have you noticed how long her neck is (by way of looking way up, partly), and how the bolero gives her that Cruella look in The 101 Dalmatians? (Structure around the neck is a way of marking authority, which is why until fairly recently, men's shirts' collars had to be starched to emphasize the head, and the starch forced them to carry themselves in the grand manner). I love the little frill around the bolero, I love how it's yet another pattern from the rest. That gold and blue reminds me of the Madonnas in Renaissance paintings, or is even reminiscent of ecclesiastical clothing, which I think the bolero emphasizes too. And the fabric has to be silk, so smooth, so soft, almost snake-like. You can feel the texture in the pictures, (Charlene's gown's fabric seems harsh by comparison), it just begs to be touched. But Caroline had a shizophrenic idea about what she wanted to convey: both the power that's left to her, and an amused look on the group they form, or the state of Monaco as it is now. Hence the polka dot side (which she did wear at a circus festival, do you remember?), a wry way of saying, not "life is a dream" but "life is a circus, my sister was right, and I am joining the bandwagon".

an_ · #**170** 08-09-2011, 09:24 PM

iloveroyals: great post!
I have been noticing for quite some time that, while being photographed, Princess Caroline puts her neck way up and her chin forward. I think it has to do with her aging neck, as you mentioned before. Am I right? Would like to hear your comments about it.

Jaya · #**171** 08-09-2011, 09:50 PM

Caro has a side that adheres with the traditional and classic.. as in her Chanel and she has another side which is iconoclastic.This happened to be one of her iconoclastic choices. I love this dress as it loooks positively tribal or like she is part of a Matisse painting and is a departure from all that Caro has ever worn.I cannot affirm that it is Red Cross Ballgown material.. but Caro did not look like the top of the chocolate box- for sure a departure... neither outstanding nor bad....

bertie5252003 · #**172** 08-10-2011, 01:17 PM

This gown IMO is for a younger woman and just thought she did not do the gown justice. I t looked to me that it was an attempt to move to something new but though she is only a couple of years older than I am, so this not age prejudgice just that choices must be made more carefully so good for her for trying but IMO it was a miss.

Renata4711 · #**173** 08-10-2011, 01:37 PM

Jaya - I'm glad you mentioned Henri Matisse who was part of the "mad" Fauvism movement.

I think Caro should be acclaimed for this departure from the usual...

Fauvism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

iloveroyals · #**174** 08-10-2011, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by an_

iloveroyals: great post!
I have been noticing for quite some time that, while being photographed, Princess Caroline puts her neck way up and her chin forward. I think it has to do with her aging neck, as you mentioned before. Am I right? Would like to hear your comments about it.

Thanks An. I think Caroline has always had this head carriage, problably due to her intensive ballet training as a girl and maybe her mother's insisting that a princess should always be taller than everybody else, which is why Princess Grace wore weird turbans and hats, big, high chignons, especially when she felt other stars might steal the show from her. (cf. Jackie Kennedy) (Just relating what I read).

Jaya, Renata, I see that we are all thinking along the same lines by quoting Matisse. (see my 8/8 post in Red Cross thread). Caroline seems to go back to her Mediterranean roots by making strong graphic and colorful style statements and her predilection for contemporary artists is well-known.

mtatum · #**175** 08-10-2011, 07:41 PM

I feel that Princess Caroline worshiped her mother, and has emulated her total look and carriage. Princess Grace was more matronly in her fashion sense and hairstyle, but the overall look and determination to be regal are very identical. Watch interviews of these two women on youtube, and -- as much as Caroline is more Grimaldi than Kelly -- her voice, her mannerisms, how she positions her head are so Grace.

COUNTESS · #**176** 08-10-2011, 08:30 PM

Grace wasn't matronly, she was classic. Not cheap and silly. Caroline is a stunning woman, even prettier than her mother, when she was younger, but he taste in clothes is often dubious.

mtatum · #**177** 08-10-2011, 08:50 PM

I should have clarified that when I used matronly as an adjective, I was pertaining to Grace later in life especially when she gained weight. As classic as she was, in my humble opinion, she did look older than her actual years in the fashion that she chose.

Caroline has a more contemporary look. It helps too that Caroline has been able to remain thin which enables her to carry off younger fashion.

Beauty is obviously relative. Caroline was an extremely stunning young woman. But for me, Grace was untouchable.

Jaya · #**178** 08-11-2011, 01:19 AM

Grace was matronly near the end there.Nonetheless a beauty but like someone's Aunt etc.....
Caro is perpetually slim which adds to her youthful look and I think the break from the classic Chanel is good for her.I like the idea that Charlene was dressed like a Princess and Caro like a Fauve...........Caro has the greatest most perfect smile I have ever seen[her eyes carry the laughter and happiness of that smile as well which few are able to express nowadays] and the longest neck....of any royal ever.....Yes Caro was like a Matisse painting.

blujean · #**179** 08-11-2011, 04:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IloveCP

Was was she thinking at the ball!

She was probaly thinking. "I am self confident enough to wear whatever I want".

fandesacs2003 · #**180** 08-11-2011, 04:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mtatum

I was pertaining to Grace later in life especially when she gained weight. As classic as she was, in my humble opinion, she did look older than her actual years in the fashion that she chose.

Caroline has a more contemporary look. It helps too that Caroline has been able to remain thin which enables her to carry off younger fashion.

.

Agree. Pcs Grace at her last years suddenly .. she lost her elegance. Very strange for such a classy woman. Her choice of dresses and hairdos were very discussable. Whe I think now that she was even not 50!

Caroline remains contemporar and classy.