A true style icon who is ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend from Classic Hollywood and was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1961. Read on while we journey through her life and career, taking in the costumes she wore for her film roles and the fashion she chose for her personal style!
Audrey was born in 1929 into an aristocratic family and grew up in Belgium, England and the Netherlands. She trained in ballet and then worked as a chorus girl on West End theatre productions as well having minor appearances in several films.
She rose to stardom in her first major film, 1953’s Roman Holiday, playing princess Ann, which won her an Oscar, Golden Globe and a Bafta. She was the first actress to win all three awards for the same performance!
The costumes in Roman Holiday were designed by Edith Head, and featured dresses in Dior’s “New Look” silhouette, as well as everyday clothing as her character had to learn to be an “ordinary girl” before she could ascend to her royal status. Her “ordinary girl” costume became iconic, consisting of a full skirt with a belt, a crisp white blouse with a removable jabot, and a little neckerchief.
Her distinctive look was said to be an alternative feminine ideal at the time, in comparison to the curvaceous sex appeal of Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor. Her demure femininity and short hair offered something different for petite young women to look up to. She has come to define the gamine archetype.
In 1954 she starred in Sabrina, and her true style became solidified. Givenchy worked with Edith Head to design her costumes, although he did not get credit for his work on this film. It was Audrey who persuaded director Billy Wilder to use a real Parisian couturier to outfit her for the role. They originally were going to meet with Balenciaga, but he was in the midst of designing his collection and he suggested his protégé Givenchy. Givenchy was not as well known yet, having only created four collections by this time. Despite thinking he was actually having a meeting with Katharine Hepburn, the pair clicked instantly, and Audrey became his muse. Their working relationship blossomed into a life-long friendship, and he dressed her both on and off screen during her career. He designed the dress she wore to the 1954 Academy Awards when she received her Oscar for Roman Holiday. It is today widely regarded as one of the most iconic Oscar dresses of all time and indeed one of the classic dresses of the 20th century.
Givenchy designed her costumes for Love in the Afternoon (1957), Funny Face (1957), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Charade (1963), Paris When It Sizzles(1964), and How to Steal a Million (1966).
In Funny Face, he designed all of her outfits while Edith Head designed the other characters. Her style throughout Funny Face changes from bookshop Beatnik to couture-wearing model, and both styles, although vastly different, were equally true to herself. She often wore comfortable clothing when she wasn’t on red carpets, and the simplicity of an all black ensemble with a duffle coat looked just as natural on her as the luxurious runway gowns. She helped popularize plain black leggings after wearing a pair in this film. The two other main characters were inspired by fashion photographer Richard Avedon and Harper’s Bazaar editor Carmel Snow.
Hepburn was credited with boosting the sales of Burberry trench coats when she wore one in Breakfast at Tiffany's. (She also wore Burberry trenches in her personal life).
The black satin dress designed by Givenchy for this film was sold by Christie's auctioneers for a record sum of $577,638 in 2006. While Givenchy designed for Audrey, another couturier designed for her co-star Patricia Neal- Pauline Trigère! Edith Head was the costume supervisor on the film.
Audrey starred in the musical My Fair Lady in 1964 with costumes designed by Cecil Beaton and Micheal Neuwirth. The film is set in Edwardian London and Beaton won the Academy Award for costume design for his work. Audrey wears some of the most iconic film costumes of all time in this film and they have influenced many designers since. Kendall Jenner wore a dress inspired by one of these costumes to the Met Gala in 2021.
Hepburn mastered a minimalistic style, usually wearing clothes with simple silhouettes that emphasised her slim body, monochromatic colours and occasional statement accessories.
Fashion plays a central role in many of her films. It was an attraction in the aesthetic of the film in its own right and became a draw for audiences.
She won BAFTA's Lifetime achievement Award, the Golden Globe Cecil B. de Mille award, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award and the Special Tony Award for her acting work.
Later in life, Hepburn devoted much of her time to UNICEF. In December 1992, Hepburn received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. A month later, she died of appendix cancer at her home in Switzerland at the age of 63.
Even after her death, she became increasingly admired, with magazines frequently advising readers on how to get her look, and fashion designers using her as inspiration.
In 1999, Audrey's Style by Pamela Keogh was published; a 340 page tome devoted to Hepburn's personality, beliefs and style.
In 2000, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Emmy Rossum portrayed her (at different stages of her life) in the TV movie The Audrey Hepburn Story. The film was not received well but is a fun fashion watch!
*Written in collaboration with Ainslie Lahey