Gloria's Greatest Hits

With her swanlike neck and clever sense of humor, Gloria Guinness effortlessly reigned over the jetset in the Sixties and Seventies. Born to modest means in Mexico, she rose to the top of the social heap after wedding banking heir Loel Guinness. They maintained homes in London, Normandy, Paris, Lausanne, Acapulco and Palm Beach. Since the Guinnesses keep moving from one house to another through the year, they found that packing and unpacking could become quite a chore. Loel Guinness hated luggage, so the two kept complete wardrobes at the ready in each of their homes. Thus they needed to travel with nothing more than the clothing on their backs. "You don't have to waste time in customs, and you don't have to declare anything. It's wonderful!" They also traveled with two chefs, kitchen maid, personal maid, valet and three chambermaids. Although she was the ultimate couture client, she didn't have a problem putting designers in their place. "My husband pays for the clothes; you just design them." But the best advise Gloria ever gave concerned jewelry. “I’ve never worn costume jewelry in my life. It’s really very self-defeating. Why should a man buy a woman real jewelry when she wears false pieces?” And Gloria's final wisdom? “Chic? It is absolutely innate, it cannot be taught.”