On Monday we began a tour through the Museum of Style Icons, a museum owned by Newbridge Silverware in Newbridge, Co. Kildare. It was a wonderful, unexpected highlight during my trip to Ireland last year. In that previous post, I shared this pretty cocktail dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in the movie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
That dress was displayed near several other dresses worn previously by Audrey, including a pretty yellow floral dress worn in the movie Funny Face. The black 2-pc cocktail ensemble designed by Givenchy was worn by her in a dancing scene with Cary Grant.
The sign nearby stated,”The black two-piece cocktail outfit comprises of a fitted wool crepe sleeveless top and matching skirt, both trimmed with deep bands of imitation jet beading.”
Seeing the costumes makes me want to watch the movie!
Another item in the museum display worn by Audrey Hepburn was this tweed coat pictured below. Info on the sign nearby stated, “This tweed coat was pictured in Luca Dotti’s book about his mother, Audrey in Rome. Audrey is pictured in 1956 wearing the coat while walking her Yorkshire Terrier “Famous” who was given to Audrey as a gift by her then-husband, Mel Ferrer when Audrey was filming “Love in the Afternoon. The coat is double-breasted and made of brown, black and grey herring-bone wool.”
The sweet white dress was another Audrey dress. Pictured near the foot of the dress was a photo of her wearing it with her infant son.
On Monday I shared the photo below of the toile created for Princess Diana’s wedding dress. Notice the photo in the background picturing Princess Diana in a black cocktail dress.
That dress, made of black silk damask, was also on display in the museum. It later became known as the “Revenge” dress because Diana wore it to the Serpentine Gallery in June 1994, the same day Prince Charles admitted in an interview that he had been having an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles.
Here’s a bit more info about the dress.
Another beautiful dress on display in the museum is this evening gown worn by Princess Grace of Monaco in the movie, High Society.
Here’s a view of the dress as it appeared in the movie.
Ever see the Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Birds? You may recall Tippi Hedren wearing this green suit in the movie. I read an article that said Hitchcock wanted her dressed in green all throughout the movie to give her a sense of innocence in contrast to other mother sinister characters in the movie. Interesting!
This white satin evening coat designed by Edith Head was worn by Tippi Hedren on the opening night of the Cannes Film Festival where the movie, The Birds premiered.
The 2-Piece Lavender ensemble below was worn by Joan Collins to the 2003 British Comedy Awards and was designed by Mark Zunino. Notice the picture of Joan in the background holding a Snickers candy bar.
She wore the blue dress below for a Snickers advertisement in 2012. The designer label in the dress said, “Jackie Collins.” Jackie Collins was the name of Joan Collin’s sister who passed away due to breast cancer in 2015. The sign nearby stated that Joan had probably designed the dress, so I guess she used her sister’s name for the brand/label.
The dress on the far left was worn by Elizabeth Taylor. I believe the green dress belonged to Princess Grace as seen in an article I found here: Museum of Style Icons.
Update: Thanks to Joyce who shared that the green dress was worn by Princess Grace when she and Prince Rainier met President and Mrs. Kennedy on a visit to the White House.
I think Elizabeth Taylor wore the dress below. Anyone remember the movie in which it appeared? I don’t think I took a photo of the sign near it, but you can see her wearing it there in the background. Does that look like a young Elizabeth Taylor?
Update: Thanks to Valkyrie for identifying this dress as being from the movie, Raintree County.
Any Bob Dylan fans? This denim jacket was worn by Bob Dylan as Billy Parker in the 1987 musical drama, Hearts of Fire.
For fans of Cabaret, this was the outfit Liza Minnelli wore during the production of Cabaret.
I’ll end the tour with this beautiful vintage sequined gown worn by Betty Draper (played by January Jones) in the Mad Men TV Series. Look at that teeny, tiny waist!
Hope you enjoyed this partial tour of the Museum of Style Icons in Ireland. There are so many beautiful costumes/ensembles–more than I could photograph during the short time we were there. If you ever find yourself in the area, I definitely recommend you stop in for a visit.
If you enjoyed this tour, check out the first part of the tour in Monday’s post here: Tour the Museum of Style Icons.
See you tomorrow for Tablescape Thursday!
What beautiful fashions! I love knowing the stories behind the dresses, too. Thank you for sharing these.
I don’t think Diana was ever more beautiful than she was in that black dress which showed her gorgeous legs off to perfection. My absolute fave. Kensington Palace has often had showings of her clothes.
Loved seeing all these clothes. How tiny Audrey Hepburn was.
Friendly Correction: Betty Draper was played by January Jones. Joan Harris was the name of another character on Mad Men (the gorgeous redhead).
Thanks, LaFaette, appreciate that correction. You can tell I never saw the series. 🙂
I DID enjoy both of these posts, Susan. Thanks for sharing!
Such beautiful clothes. Sigh. I noticed a trend between most of them. Most of them were fairly tailored, but very classy, feminine looking. I wish designers would go back to styles like these and use women that didn’t Look so terribly unhappy, and so thin that they look like they were in a concentration camp.
I love all the dresses, so pretty. Dresses now are not nearly as pretty, see thru, not wearing a bra, There is no elegance in them. The dresses of the old movies are sophisticated and beautiful. Thanks for sharing these lovely pictures!
That black and yellow dress reminds me of Gone With The Wind dresses. People knew how to dress elegantly then as shown by your post. Some do now I am sure but contemporary clothing leaves a lot to be desired at times.
; The Elizabeth Taylor dress is from “Raintree County”
Thanks, Valkyrie! I just updated the post with that info…thanks again!
I love your blog and this story was wonderful!
But, Charade was not an Alfred Hitchcock film.
Thanks, Susan! I thought I saw something this morning that said it was a Hitchcock movie…of course, can’t find it now. lol Thanks for that info, just updated the post.
The green dress with jacket was worn by Princess Grace when she and Prince Rainier met President and Mrs. Kennedy at the White House. Here is a link to that event from JFK Library. https://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKWHP-1961-05-24-D.aspx
Yes! I was going to write what Joyce wrote…that Princess Grace wore that green dress at the White House when she met with JFK. She wore a white “turban” type hat that covered her hair. The turban had “texture”…it was not smooth in fabric.
Loved both posts showing the beautiful clothes, thank you for sharing!
You must have the skin of an elephant to withstand all the corrections
folks give you from time to time.
I just want to say I loved it and think you are brilliant in everything you
share with us.
No corrections from me. I think your articles are wonderful and I just
love clicking them everytime.
Thanks a million my friend,
Sharon in NC
Aww–thanks, Sharon! I don’t mind since they were offered with a sweet spirit and I needed the help on some of those. 🙂 You are a dear heart and I appreciate you!
What a fun tour! The stories with the dresses add so much to the exhibit.
Tippi Hedren’s beautiful green suit in The Birds! I love that simple suit and she looked lovely in it. It was interesting that Hitchcock wanted her in an “innocent” green. In the movie Hand that Rocks the Cradle (one of my favorites, love the house) all the “good” characters wore green or gold; the bad guys wore blue or gray. I noticed it after having seen the movie a dozen times or so, lol…
Susan,
I’m just picturing how lucky all those girls must feel who are interested in fashion and in movies/celebrities, etc. and who live in Ireland and near to that museum… I guess they know what’s their favorite rainy day activity, don’t they? 🙂 I wish we had something like that here, too! And that even for free! Arghh… I love everything Diana wore and oooh… that Liz Taylor’s ball(on) gown is TDF! ♥ I have to ask though if that pink dress worn by Audrey is missing some appliqués or if that’s the way it was… no criticizing here, I just wonder about some gaps… 🙂
Cecilia, glad you mentioned the missing applique’s…first thing I noticed, and wondered also. Susan what an interesting and beautiful post! Thanks , as always for showing us a glimpse of your travels.
Great eye, Cecilia! I didn’t even notice that until you mentioned it. I wonder if it’s designed that way. The pink fabric looks smooth and those blank areas and not like something was there before. We need to find a picture of Audrey wearing it in the movie and see how it looked then.
Cecilia, I found a picture and I don’t see empty spots or gaps on the dress. So, odd…how could those areas go missing their appliques!
Does anyone other than January Jones have a waist as tiny as that? I don’t keep up with the Joneses.
My favorites are the sweet white with blue sash Audrey, pink Audrey Hepburn and Madmen vintage! I just love them all. Thanks for sharing. You are our very own fashionista!
Great post. Enjoyed looking at beautiful clothes!
Yikes…I remembered almost ALL of those costumes…not Dillon. I’ve always had such respect for those talented people doing costumes for movies, opera, theater…just artist in the “credits.” franki
How fun! And who would have thought that the museum would be in Ireland, and not Hollywood!
I read that when Diana would wear something with a little more cleavage, in deference to royal tradition, she would use her small clutch bags as coverage in front of the paparazzi as they photographed her comings and goings. She looks amazing in that dress and I can see why it is called the revenge dress.
Thank you so much for the follow-up, Susan. The styles and fabrics are truly amazing! As for their history; totally entertaining. -Brenda-
I just saw your post, although it’s almost 5 years old. I have to correct you. The yellow flowered dress next to the black dress is from the photo shoot sequence in Funny Face. Great post, though. Thanks for sharing the pics.
Thanks for letting me know, I just corrected that info in the post after verifying it. The Museum of Style Icons apparently has the dress displayed in the wrong area because they had it grouped with other dresses that were said to be from the movie Charade…see photo below. Hopefully, someone has let them know by now. Thanks again for letting me know.