10 style lessons from Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn in Paris, France. 1957

Our history has known several women who were born with a sense of style, and one of them is the British and American actress, fashion model and humanitarian activist, Audrey Hepburn. The main advice that it is important to learn is: focus on the best, hide the worst. The rest are just details. We identified Audrey Hepburn’s 10 styles from A to Z.

Cut-away shoulders

Billy Wilder’s romantic comedy “Sabrina”, filmed in 1954, brought a Oscar award to the costume designer Edith Head and stressed with a red line the “branded” image of Audrey Hepburn. She chose the famous Spanish couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga to design her dresses, but he refused to cooperate. The tetragonal deep cut, as well as the famous black dress with cut-away shoulders for “Sabrina” was invented by no less than the legendary French fashion designer Hubert Givenchy, with whom Audrey maintained a friendly relationship even after working on the film, wearing Givenchy on the frame and in the real life. Hubert has created his first fragrance in honor of Hepburn, calling it «L’Interdit» ( translated from French as “Interdiction”).

A-silhouette

Another significant Audrey’s movie is “Funny face” from 1957, a movie watched by each of us, lying under a blanket on a Saturday evening. The actress appears on the screen with the actor Fred Astaire. He plays the role of a fashion photographer from New York who is looking for “new faces” for the magazine “Quality”. Soon he finds a girl from the bookstore and presents her the world of fashion industry.

In the frame, Audrey Hepburn wears some sleeveless, A-silhouette dresses of couture houses like Dior and Givenchy, but always with gloves to the elbow, confirming this way her status as an “icon of style”. Especially actual in the 50’s, the New Look of Christian Dior, emphasizing the ideal female figure, has become one of the main details of Audrey Hepburn’s style, making each girl remember frames from “Funny face” and “Sabrina”, when going on a celebration dinner.

Audrey Hepburn in one of Hubert Givenchy dresses

Tiffany & Co

After the adaptation of the novel by Truman Capote’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, the sales of Tiffany & Co jewelry beat all records. Strings of pearls in three rows, tiaras and large earrings even in combination with a simple shirt-dress became a signature of luxury and spontaneity. Hepburn skillfully added Tiffany to her everyday images teaching girls to look natural even in million dollars jewelry.

Thanks to the movie “Breakfast at Tiffany”, she became one of the iconic images of American cinema industry. Audrey titles her role as a “jazz” role, thanks to a common playful atmosphere and music by Henry Mancini.

Tinted glasses

The complete detail of the classic and feminine look became the tinted glasses with plastic rim, like the ones observed at Audrey Hepburn’s heroine from “How to Steal a Million” and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. The playful form with turtle ornament, created by the designer Oliver Goldsmith in 2011, raised a wave of excitement on the details of costumes from movies starring the icon.

Offstage, she wore glasses not only with wide-brimmed hats, but also with a relaxed casual style, adding also to her outfits overalls for skiing.

Hats

The bowler hat and the wide-brimmed hat is a part of Audrey’s style. As Audrey’s stylist Edith Head planned, models of such hats didn’t covered the face, putting an accent on the eyes and cheekbones.

Japanese poster for the movie “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and a frame from the movie, 1961

The white shirt

The most simple and elegant piece of wardrobe opens a wide field for imagination, while remaining within the elevated style. Even before the advent of Maison Martin Margiela bluish-white shirts, she demonstrated her ability to wear male wardrobe elements, as a real lady. In the movie “Roman Holiday” (1953), Hepburn was dressed in a white shirt tucked into a wide belt skirt.

Frames from the movie “Roman holiday”, 1953

The basis of Audrey’s image is easy negligence, the feeling that the look was created without hesitation, but still accurately and competently. Her ability to wear a white shirt, lifting a little the sleeves, is a special style, the detail of which is necessary to notice. Advising to buy a white shirt, as a key element of the wardrobe, stylists often cited as an example the manner of the actress to present sharp and graceful outfits even for the simplest things.

Tight fit jackets

Every woman must posses a perfect blazer or jacket: from classical knitted jacket to blazers in Yves Saint Laurent style – the choice is not limited. In the movie “How to Steal a Million” and “Sabrina”, Audrey Hepburn appears in strict feminine outfits, though she just descended from the famous department store Bergdorf Goodman. When choosing a jacket of your dreams, pay attention to the film frames.

Flats and heelless shoes

Curious to relate, even in complicated combinations and capricious details, she succeeds to harmoniously avoid heels. Having a height of 1.70 m, her favorite models are flats and loafers, in which the actress looks even slimmer. She combines flat shoes with short trousers, classic trench coats and voluminous wool coat.

Capri pants

In the movie “Love in the Afternoon”, Audrey Hepburn plays a young cellist, student at Conservatory. Like movie’s heroine, the actress can be seen offstage in long calf-length pants. The incredibly popular model is combined with bulky sweaters and light silk blouses. The main difficulty is that it’s not so easy to choose the ideal Capri pants because this model will visually add some extra pounds. Choose a slightly narrower model and focus on the top of the outfit.

A frame from the movie “Love in the Afternoon”,USA, 1957

The black color

The favorite color of creative elite of all time. The color of elegance and detachment – black excites the imagination of famous couturiers, forcing to take another look at the rules of colors and forms. Black dresses of Audrey Hepburn went down in history not only with the help of light hands of Givenchy and Dior, but also with her ability to appear in a modest black cocktail dress throwing into shade even the most sophisticated outfits, adorned with silver and gold, of movie starts present at the event. Surprisingly, the darkest color from the palette best reveals one’s personality.

Audrey Hepburn in Mark Shaw focus, 1954 – frame from the movie “Sabrina”