Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993). American actress. Born in Brussels, her real name was Hedda van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston. Thin with big fawn eyes and a long neck, she possessed a juvenile passion for dancing and made an unmistakable black silhouette on the cinema posters. Hepburn’s beauty was simply unusual for the 1950s when she triumphed as the pin-up model. From her very first appearances, she imposed herself as an unquestionable icon of taste. Her first successful film, Roman Holiday (1953), besides giving her an Oscar as Best Actress, made an impact on the fashion world. The white blouses worn with large skirts with elastic bands at the waist and a scarf around the neck became popular. Hepburn had arrived at Hollywood from Broadway where she had been the protagonist — expressly chosen by the author, Colette — of the theater production of the novel Gigi. Two more of her films, Funny Face and Arianna, launched other fashions, such as tight pants to the ankles, colored tights, black pants that were ancestors of the future stirrup-pants, and ultra-flat shoes. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1960) marked the triumph of the black sheath dress and oversized sunglasses. Notwithstanding the fact that Hepburn often wore creations by Valentino, Saint-Laurent, Emilio Pucci, Ralph Lauren, and André Laug, and accessories by Gucci, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, and Ferragamo, her name is linked particularly strongly with Hubert de Givenchy. The two met on the set of Sabrina (1954), when the director Billy Wilder entrusted the French couturier, on Hepburn’s suggestion, to help Edith Head in the creation of costumes for the protagonist. Thanks to that movie, a lifetime connection was born between the actress and the designer. From that time, Givenchy designed most of Hepburn’s outfits both on the set and in her private life. Hepburn said on many occasions: “I need Givenchy as American women need a psychoanalyst”.