Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix festivities will take over the narrow streets of Monte Carlo through Sunday. One of the championship motorsports’ most anticipated races overlaps with the Cannes Film Festival, so expect the glamour, parties and Champagne to continue flowing through the weekend festivities.
Considered the jewel of the crown in the F1 series, the Monaco Grand Prix, once invitation only, has been hosted by the royal family since 1929. The race is celebrating its 82nd edition and still swerves through the city’s only principality — ruled by Prince Andrew II of Monaco, son of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier.
Beyond the race, there is the ritual of the vibrant social scene. Today’s festivities host a global who’s who of the jet set.
WWD made its way into the conversation in the early 1920s as savvy society doyennes helped make Monte Carlo a fashionable getaway. The island became a gateway to show off the latest resort trends and fashion. Local haunts from the lobby bar at the Hotel de Paris to Jimmy’z, the Tip Top Café, and, of course, the local casinos, especially in the 1960s and 1970s, became the places for visitors to convene during and after the Grand Prix circuit festivities. WWD noted the races, alongside the fanatic fervor and fashion of the time, as hordes of followers dressed in branded jeans and T-shirts — some in honor of their favorite driver — and disco dresses for the night dined and partied with famous faces from Mick Jagger, Andy Warhol, Ringo Starr to Princess Grace, “even if they didn’t know the difference between a Ferrari and a Fendi,” the daily observed.
Today, the F1 Monaco Grand Prix race is still “where the action is” as WWD noted in its 1977 coverage. At least, that’s true through Sunday with the festivities in the city of Monte Carlo.
In anticipation of it all, here is a look back at the races, the parties and the people from WWD and the Fairchild Archive.
