Writing about Audrey Hepburn’s fashion is an train in avoiding cliches. The problem: What’s there left to say about her poise, understated class, lifelong dedication to impeccable tailoring, and her enduring friendship with Hubert de Givenchy, that hasn’t already been mentioned?
Hepburn’s energy is her ubiquitousness. She’s so embedded in our understanding of vogue historical past; her outfits on and off display screen each completely timeless and emblematic of the sartorial shifts and adjustments of the latter half of the twentieth century. The publicity images for 1961’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s have graced 1000’s of teenage women’ bed room partitions, and lots of the garments from her movies—together with the little black dress she wore as Holly Golightly, and the humble polo neck in Humorous Face (1957)—are actually the definition of iconic.
It’s a method that all the time stays distinctly hers, although, as evidenced within the 2020 documentary Audrey: More Than An Icon. Made by the award-winning workforce behind BAFTA-nominated McQueen, it’s no shock that garments characteristic closely, however the movie additionally shares a hardly ever seen intimate take a look at Hepburn’s life through archival footage and interviews with associates, household, and colleagues.
The result’s an insightful and shifting portrayal of the Belgian-born actress who lived via the trauma of German-occupied Holland in the course of the second world conflict, with the teenage Hepburn struggling malnourishment as a consequence of meals shortage. The star’s pure skills for performing grew to become her instrument for elevating each native spirits and cash for the Dutch resistance: Dancing at secret, invitation-only occasions the place funds had been collected for these main the underground combat in opposition to the Nazis.
The stardom that adopted, which noticed the actress transfer to Hollywood and enchant tens of millions, hid a life spent privately looking for stability and love. Her relationship with vogue was about companionship too, with Hubert de Givenchy fulfilling the function of pal and world-leading inventive collaborator—one thing former Givenchy inventive director Clare Waight Keller recounts within the movie.
“Style got here into my life after I had my very, very first couture gown made by Hubert de Givenchy,” Hepburn as soon as mentioned. “The sweetness was extraordinary.” It was not friendship at first sight, nevertheless. When the French couturier first met the actress, he thought he was going to be assembly Katharine Hepburn—and was nonplussed at their preliminary encounter.
It was when Hepburn subsequently wore a number of outfits by the designer in her 1954 movie Sabrina that the duo’s lifelong collaboration started, with the actress turning into the last word recipient of Givenchy’s refined method to luxurious dressing. Standout seems embody an beautiful double-breasted wool skirt swimsuit in Sabrina—its silhouette completely marking protagonist Sabrina Fairchild’s newfound sophistication after a stint in Paris—and the white robe with a ribbon-tied beaded bodice that Hepburn wore to attend the 1975 Academy Awards.
In honor of what would have been the icon’s ninety fifth birthday as we speak (4 Could), right here is Vogue’s recap of Audrey Hepburn’s biggest fashion moments via the a long time.
