Ever since Albert and David Maysles’ 1975 film Grey Gardens, the lives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis’s eccentric relatives Edie Bouvier Beale and her mother Edith have inhabited a special place in fashion’s heart. Yes, the documentary showed them living in squalor, their once magnificent mansion decayed by time and neglect while their disconnection from the outside world left them mentally fragile. But their humor, charm, and incredible sense of style spun a strange romance around their tale. In the years since the film came out it has inspired countless stylists, designers, and fashion editors. Marc Jacobs, Zac Posen, Giambattista Valli, and John Galliano have all praised the women, and one could argue Alessandro Michele would never have come to his signature cocktail of manic whimsy if Little Edie hadn’t embraced headscarves.
READ: exploring the timeless style and spirit of ‘grey gardens’
Now with the iconic Grey Gardens home going up for sale, fans have the chance to really become part of the story. That is, if you have $20 million lying around. The 28-room East Hampton mansion was bought by Washington Post journalist Sally Quinn and her husband Ben Bradlee in 1979 after Big Eddie passed away, they extensively renovated the property. Before they made the purchase the Health Department had visited the Beales in 1971 and found the mansion to be filled with trash, insects and animals.
You can check out the very much spruced up Grey Garden’s on the Corcoran realty website.
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Text Wendy Syfret