Grace Kelly to Catch a Thief White Dress
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In To Catch a Thief Grace Kelly shows us 10 elegant examples of 1950's fashion.
In her third and final collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock, Grace Kelly provides us with a treasure trove of fashion inspiration in To Catch a Thief.
The fashion designer for this film was again Edith Head, possibly one of the most famous fashion designers from the old Hollywood era, she collaborated with Hitchcock on a number of films and had dressed Grace Kelly in Rear Window.
The clothes she designed for Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief give us a glimpse of 1950s fashion that suits Grace Kelly's character as the wealthy heiress Frances Stevens.
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This post is all about To Catch a Thief Grace Kelly
To Catch a Thief Synopsis
Cary Grant plays John Robie, aka 'the cat' a reformed jewel thief known for his cat-like abilities to climb onto roofs in order to steal jewelry from hotel rooms.
When a string of jewel robberies show similar 'cat-like' signs, suspicion points to him and he sets out to find the real culprit in order to prove his innocence.
Grace Kelly plays the wealthy Frances Stevens, an American oil heiress that falls for John Robie. She discovers past life as the cat, and although at first she suspects him, realizes he is innocent and helps him prove it.
Her character is elegant, highly polished, maybe a bit spoiled and used to having men falling for her. But, falling for the men for fall for her seems to be a new experience for her.
Her wardrobe of icy colors and fancy dresses reflects her character and social standing. The movie is also set on the french riviera, not exactly the location of choice for budget-friendly vacations.
She's also accompanied by her mother, Jesse Stevens, and seems to be quite close to her. Jesse's personality seems to be the polar opposite of Frances'. She still has the rough, outspoken character of someone who was poor and came into a lot of money later in life.
Jesse can tell right away that her daughter and John Robie would make a good match and makes a number of comments that embarrass Frances but which John seems to enjoy.
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To Catch a Thief Grace Kelly Swimsuit
The first time we see Grace Kelly's character Frances Stevens, is at the beach. Although we don't know who she is yet, Hitchcock gives us a good glimpse of her sitting on the beach applying sun lotion. She makes a point of noticing John Robie as he steps out of the water and onto the beach, lying down in sand without a towel…although who wouldn't notice Cary Grant at the beach?
She's wearing a yellow halter top one-piece swimsuit, with matching yellow horn-rimmed glasses and a classic 1950's-style swimming cap.
John Robie is lying uncomfortably in the sand, because he obviously hadn't planned to be lying on the beach at all. He is trying stay out of the Police's way until he is able to figure out who is impersonating him with the bank robberies.
He hatches an idea. He figures that whoever is doing these robberies has to know who the wealthy women are with jewelry and where they are staying. So in order to get ahead of "the cat" he decides he needs to know all the wealthy jewelry-wearing women are.
He comes up with a plan with a jewelry insurance man who grudgingly agrees to help (he doesn't want to have to pay up for stolen jewelry) and provides John Robie with a list of clients with insured jewels.
One of the names on list is Jesse Stevens, France's mother. Robie figures she will be a target, so he decides to get close to her.
The insurance man tells him where she will be one evening so that he can arrange a meeting.
In order to get her attention, he drops his poker chip down a woman's strapless dress. When she screams and he has to make an awkward apology, the entire room hears, Jesse Steven's is highly entertained and wants to meet him.
To Catch a Thief Grace Kelly Blue Dress
Frances is with her mother the night they meet John Robie, and she is wearing a icy blue evening gown with spaghetti straps and a shawl that she drapes over one shoulder.
Even though John Robie pays more attention to her mother than to her the entire evening, she seems to like him right away and kisses him good night when he sees her to her room.
To Catch a Thief Grace Kelly Dress
The morning after meeting him, Frances invites John Robie to go swimming.
When he arrives at the hotel room to pick her up she is wearing a yellow 1950's style floral dress with a fitted waist and a white belt.
To Catch a Thief Grace Kelly Swim Coverup
Of course the plan is to go swimming, so she has to change into something more beach appropriate.
She comes down to the hotel lobby wearing a swim coverup that looks like dress.
To Catch a Thief Grace Kelly Swimsuit
Now we finally get to the swimsuit, two outfits later.
Unfortunately we don't get a good glimpse of her swimsuit. We can only see from the shoulders up as she's swimming, but from what we can see, it looks like it's a black one piece, halter style swimsuit.
To Catch a Thief Grace Kelly Pink Dress
As part of John Robie's story to get close to her mother, i.e. to get closer to the thief, he is pretending that he's an American visiting France and is interested in buying a villa. Although it is true that he's an American, he's actually been living in France for some time, speaks the language, and already owns a villa.
What he doesn't count on is Frances offering to drive him around to look at all the villas.
She shows up in this pink dress dress, accessorized with a pink scarf and a cute pair of white driving gloves.
We have to admit that the pink cuts quite a nice contrast against the blue of sea as they're driving, no doubt by design on the part of Alfred Hitchcock and Edith Head.
John Robie has his "list" of villas that he's referencing throughout the trip which is actually the list the insurance man gave him of the wealthy clients with jewelry…which, don't forget also has Jesse Steven's name on it.
The Police begin following them, as they're still suspicious of John, and the "car scene" occurs here.
By this time Frances has figured out that he is John Robie 'the cat' and plays a little 'cat and mouse' game of her own.
To Catch a Thief Grace Kelly White Dress
Frances wasn't able to get John Robie to admit who he was, so she tries a more elaborate plot to get him to admit his true identity.
She offers to have him watch a firework show from her hotel room and she wear a strapless white gown with what appears to be a showy diamond necklace.
She's tempting him to hold the diamonds, trying to get him to admit who he is when he informs her that they're fake.
That night the real thief strikes and robs her mother's jewels. Frances instantly suspects John Robie and accuses him.
She searches his room and finds the list of women that have jewels, which also has her mother's name on it. In her mind it's enough evidence to prove he targeted her mother the entire time and then stole the jewels.
Interestingly enough, her mother doesn't seem to share her daughter's suspicions of him. She seems more entertained by the loss of her jewels and the resulting attention than anything else.
To Catch a Thief Grace Kelly Dress
After a dramatic scene where Francis accuses John Robie of stealing her mother's jewels, there is another dramatic scene where a man gets killed at the scene of another robbery.
The Police believe they have killed the cat, and the newspapers announce the news. When Frances reads the papers, she feels remorseful for how she accused John Robie of being the thief.
To Catch a Thief Grace Kelly White Sweater
Frances swallows her pride and goes to apologize to John about her behavior.
Although we don't see her full outfit as she's sitting in her car, she looks to be wearing a black turtleneck sweater with a white sweater on top of it.
He informs her that it wasn't the real 'cat' that the newspapers reported as being killed as the man who died had a wooden leg…therefore making it impossible for him to be able to climb across roofs, sneak into windows and steal diamonds.
He accepts her apology and says he wants an invitation to the ball she is attending with her mother. It's an event where a lot of women will be showing off their jewels and then staying the night, an event that he believes will be too much temptation for the thief to turn down.
To Catch a Thief Grace Kelly Gold Dress
In her final dress of the movie, Frances wear a gold dress to the party.
John Robie was correct in his suspicions that all the jewels at the party would be too much for the thief to resist, and there is dramatic rooftop scene where he catches the thief in the act and clears his name.
Source: https://www.classiccriticscorner.com/classic-movies/to-catch-a-thief-grace-kelly
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