This was the first time for Ralph Lauren to ever show in Paris. The show was in honour of Ralph’s patronage and sponsorship of L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He restored an entire wing in the school including its amphitheatre.
You probably know that Princess Charlene attended the event wearing a purple Ralph Lauren Collection gown. But actually the gown is described officially by Ralph Lauren as: “Ralph Lauren Collection custom amethyst silk taffeta evening dress with organza and organdy silk layers“.
The gown is based on this dress from the Fall 2013 collection (the same that was viewed).
Charlene accessorized her gown with Ralph Lauren custom silver T-bar strappy sandals.
The Princess carried a Ralph Lauren Collection Lizard minaudière that retails for $3,500 (the gown costs somewhere between $10,000 and $18,000).
Now, THE JEWELRY, I got the info confirmed by the Palace. drum roll please!
The earrings and bracelet The Princess of Monaco wore are a part of a historic set that belongs to the House of Grimaldi.
Sadly, the Palace spokesperson said they couldn’t provide anymore information regarding the set at the moment, but hopefully we’ll know more in the future now that Charlene is probably turning to the vaults for bling. In fact I think this move puts many rumours to rest, it also gives me hope that the Grimaldis have other tiaras and significant jewelry than those we know, maybe Charlene is going to embrace them by time.
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| Close up of the bracelet |
Click on the photo above to see the bracelet in all its glory, man, I can only imagine the rest of this set, a necklace, a stomacher, a tiara (one can dream).
You can watch a video of the event HERE.
I absolutely love her look. The colour of her dress, the hair and the jewels. It's not often you see Charlene in jewels and bright colours. Pity, as she carries them both very well. I love the softer look of the hair too. #proudlysouthafrican.
Despite her jewelry and gown, I see a model and no Princess.
Charlene Wittstock still has not 'x-factor' Princess Caroline definitely has.
Not a very nice comment. Please define for us your definition of what makes a Princess. I seen so called princesses not looking what they really are at all. Where do you draw the line?
Another proud South African!!!!
We could send all the wannabe princesses to you to see if they qualify for your mysterious x-factor before they get called princesses.
The jewelry looks quite contemporary – even post-Grace. If it's been in the royal vault, I'm guessing it hasn't been there very long.
If the set was purchased after Princess Grace, the Palace wouldn't have called it a "historic" set!
princess charlene is stunning, she is a real princess, she is worthy to be the daughter in law of Princess Grace. Wonderfull
What is a "real princess" pray tell me? Is "stunning" your definition of a real princess? My!
Do the fashion houses use their stylists on Charlene? Because she is more beautiful at the shows then at other times.
Is she supposed to look "more beautiful" all the time? Or did you think she looks this way quite naturally perhaps?
My favourite blue! (I know it is called purple, but for me it's blue).
If the jewellery belongs to a historic set, it must be earlier than princess Charlotte (Rainier's mother) as those pieces bought for her are from the 1920's and the style of these definitely is not from that period. And PrCharlotte left her jewellery to Caroline and not to the palace vault.
Going backwards, the next possible owner could be princess Alice, the 2nd wife of Albert I. His 1st wife princess Mary left him within a year of their wedding and went to live with her grandmother, so it is unlikely that her jewellery would be in the palace. Another possible owner could be Albert I's mother princess Caroline. The economic situation in Monaco was not very good before the casino was founded, so I suppose most historic jewellery dates after 1860.
Princess Grace wore a couple of times a pearl pendant which had belonged to Pr Alice, so it is quite possible that in the palace vault there is more of Alice's jewellery.
There even was a crown of Monaco, but it was lost during the French revolution and was never replaced.
I was thinking of Princess Alice, too and Princess Antoinette de Mérode who was a Belgian nobility and was so rich that she even bought Marchais. I guess it'll be a mystery until the Palace decides to release more information!
I did not remember Pr Antoinette – and was too lazy to search for the book of Monaco I have somewhere. Let's wait for the palace to tell.