Ask anyone to name Geri Halliwell’s most famous outfit and there will be no doubt which outfit immediately comes to mind.
Her iconic Union Jack micro-mini dress, which she wore at The Brits 27 years ago, is most associated with the former Ginger Spice. The dress the then 25-year-old singer wore during a performance with The Spice Girls, stitched together from a tea towel with bunting and struggling to contain her voluptuous curves, epitomized an era of Girl Power and Cool Britannia as she performed a medley from their hits Wannabe and Who Do You Think You Are?
Fast forward to today and the answer to who 51-year-old Geri Horner thinks she is appears to be… Grace Kelly.
The loud, brash upstart from Watford, who once famously tricked King Charles (then the Prince of Wales), has reinvented herself as a genteel and polished Lady of the Manor. Gone are the loud, revealing clothes.
In its place is a wardrobe with modest pieces in white (and very occasionally pastel shades). Simple, chic and flattering, many of them are very similar to the styles the late Princess Grace of Monaco once wore.
American actress Grace Kelly in the blue silk dress she wore to the 1955 Academy Awards
Geri Halliwell channels the Hollywood icon in a similar floor-length dress
On Wednesday, for her first appearance alone since her husband Christian Horner’s “sexting” scandal, Geri made sure she looked both elegant and unaffected.
She was dressed in a soft, feminine two-piece from Australian brand Zimmermann to promote her new children’s book, Rosie Frost and the Falcon Queen.
The £695 blouse buttoned up to the neck, while the £925 skirt reached her ankles. With not an inch of flesh showing, it was a far cry from the brutal styles that made her famous. Her outfit at the Hay Festival was strikingly similar to the Helen Rose silk organza dress worn by Grace Kelly in the 1956 hit film High Society.
Grace’s iconic wedding dress in High Society was made of silk organza
Mrs. Halliwell wears a very similar two-piece Zimmermann suit
Grace wears a white veiled headpiece
Mrs Halliwell combines Grace’s headpiece with a headpiece from Jane Taylor London
Grace wears a pink glitter headscarf in the 1950s
The actress’s High Society scarf finds new life in Mrs. Halliwell’s race car
That Geri’s skirt and blouse even showed a hint of color was a revelation, considering she’s dressed almost exclusively in white for the past five years.
Whether she’s walking the red carpet or playing house in one of the two country piles she shares with her husband of nine years and her two children – Bluebell, 18, from her relationship with screenwriter Sacha Gervasi, and Monty, seven, her son with Horner – Geri wears white.
Although things have gotten a little murky for Red Bull boss Horner lately, after he was accused of sending inappropriate text messages to a female employee – a claim he denies – Geri’s wardrobe has remained pure and healthy .
The petite pop star claims she sticks to white and faded clothes because they go with everything and it takes the headache out of choosing what to wear. As for looking sleek and demure, as she recently revealed, it’s because she’s come to appreciate the concept of less is more.
Looking angelic in a strapless white dress with draped detail
Ginger Spice copies the model in a £7,000 Halfpenny dress
Grace in a lace dress with boat neck
Ms Halliwell paid tribute to the star in an £805 Paco Rabanne dress
Grace wears this beautiful number in 1956 during an exhibition chronicling her life, from growing up in Philadelphia to starring in films and marrying Prince Rainier III
Resplendent in Rebecca Vallance, Ms. Halliwell recreates Grace’s 1956 dress
Grace Kelly looks elegant in a blouse with a tie collar
The singer wears a dignified tie-collar blouse during The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
“There is a power in obfuscation,” she told The Times. ‘I didn’t realize that. I don’t have to share too much.’
It all ties in nicely with Geri’s lifestyle transformation, which started when she married Horner in 2015. Geri’s 1.4 million Instagram followers see her idyllic Cotswolds life full of pie baking, horse riding, gardening and sewing. When it comes to using Grace Kelly as her muse, it seems her good friend, the late George Michael, was the man who planted the seed.
“He took me shopping and tried to turn me into Grace Kelly,” she said in 2019. “He took me to places like Armani and showed me black turtlenecks. He always tried to refine me.”
She also revealed that the Wham! star gifted her a watch inspired by Princess Grace when she left the Spice Girls. “He bought me this beautiful watch, and it’s very elegant,” she said. “It’s like a Grace Kelly watch, and it almost helped me move from one stage of my life to the next. And that watch just means everything: support, kindness, which I really appreciate.”
Thanks to the head start that George gave her, together with her regular stylist Martha Ward, Geri now has that understated sophistication down to the last detail. The belted Alexander McQueen dress she wore to the Royal Box at Wimbledon in 2019 was similar to the fitted dress Grace wore in costume designer Edith Head’s 1955 Hitchcock film To Catch a Thief.
And what about the cream Halfpenny silk dress Geri wore to the 2023 BAFTAs – doesn’t it look uncannily similar to the dress Grace wore during a modeling shoot?
It’s not just when she’s dressed to the nines, either. While behind the wheel of a sports car, Geri wrapped her hair in a scarf – just like Grace did when she sat next to co-star Frank Sinatra in High Society.
At a recent book signing, Geri wore a chunky knit sweater, as her idol did during a boat trip in Monaco after her wedding to Prince Rainer III.
From the smart blouses with tie ribbons to polo necks and pillbox hats, it looks like Geri’s graceful transformation is truly complete.