Seriously, people. Seriously. The real world is complex, and full of shades of grey. One can appreciate and celebrate T.S. Eliot for practically inventing Modernist poetry but still be able to disdain him for being a racist. One can appreciate D. W. Griffith's
Birth of a Nation for pushing Hollywood movie-making boundaries in the silent era, while still adhoring the movie itself for being a piece of KKK propapanda.
I find it insulting that if one admires and her unique, one of a kind fashion sense and style that one is somehow "gloss[ing]" over Wallis's racism and spendthrift ways. No, I'm appreciating that she treated fashion as art. My esteem of her fashion sense does NOT mean I'm trivializing or giving her a pass on her racism. And I find it beyond ridiculous that I'm even typing these two paragraphs. Shades of grey, that's all I'm saying. I choose not to address her character here in the *fashion* forum because I'm discussing her *fashion* not her personal beliefs. (I bring it up because, as hated as Diana is on this forum, her fashion threads aren't turned into character studies. They stay on the topic of fashion, not her eating disorder, not her relationship with Charles, not how she felt about Camilla, etc. I've only browsed a few other of the fashion threads, but they do a remarkable job of staying on the topic of fashion and style too without straying into character studies.)
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To get back to fashion and style, here are some quotes from
The Windsor Style about Wallis's fashion sense:
"Wallis Simpson's recipe of absolute simplicity with a dash of with started way, way back when she was plain--very plain--Bessiewallis Warfield of Baltimore, and speared her hair with a peacook blue feather above a conventional evening gown; or earlier still, when at her first adolescent party she insisted on substituting a red sash for the a blue one a white party frock." (98)
I find this quote interesting because all throughout the fashion chapter of TWS, it's mentioned that Wallis's fashion sense was something she had to work at. However, this paragraph seems to contradict that: that she was always chic.
"' I never saw her in a blouse and skirt in the country,' says Givenchy. 'I remember her in a pearl grey suit with a white blouse and a good brooch on the lapel." (106)
"'She was chic but never casual,' says the Vicomtess de Ribes. 'Other American society women like Babe Paley could be chic in blue jeans. The Duchess was from a different generation.'" (109)
This is the part that most draws me to her style. That she was always so formal. Then, again, I long for the days when people dressed up. I love sportswear, but think it's a watered down version of formal dressing.
20+ years after her death and she is still influencing fashion:
John Galliano's Dior show winks at the Duchess of Windsor - National Fashion | Examiner.com
(Yes, I have already noted the irony.
)