Audrey Hepburn

If i had to pick one fashion icon it always has been, and always will be Audrey Hepburn. I have always loved her style, look and overall vibe for as long as i can remember, and she has definitely been a kind of muse that i keep coming back to.

Being one of the most photographed woman in history i have seen hundreds of photographs of Hepburn and yet they all seem to be flawless. I love her constance sense of elegance and grace, and ability to always seem put together.

 

photographer Cecil Beaton was just one of the photographers that saw something special in Audrey, and described himself as being transfixed by her "young and sad eyes".

There seemed to be a theme in peoples fascination with Audrey, and her rise to success, being around her ability to portray feminine beauty, with childlike innocence.

Although this was a great asset to her i discovered that the reason for this innocence came from a very dark vulnerability formed in her childhood. Audrey experienced a lot of trauma from growing up in war torn Holland, and by the end of the war she was near starvation. The desperation from a near death experience, along with all the other truma definitely had a lasting impact on her life, and is thought to be the source of the innocence and vulnerability she portrayed.

The war was also the darker reason for her infamous slim figure. Audrey redefined holywood beauty standards of the time from full bodied all american woman, to slim and flat chested. Many including myself saw this as a good thing, as she added some much needed variety to the beauty standards, and a different type body for woman to relate to and feel beautiful in.

It is however ironic that the things that she was most admired and famed for, where as a result of such a traumatic time. This was a fact that she struggled with throughout her career as she had to channel these feelings and be complimented on her appearance, a constant painful reminder of her past.

 

As i mentioned my most favorite thing about Audrey is her overall vibe of sophistication and elegance in every film and phtograph. Even in 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' people where amazed at how she could turn essentially the tough life of a prostitute, and make it a kind of glamorous and classy role.

Her kind eyes where definitely not just for the camera as Audrey spent most of her later life as a good will ambassador for Unicef, the same charity that had first helped her out of starvation. She used her vulnerable pain and channeled it to help others. This part of Audreys life is the most inspirational, and when she described herself as the most happy with "finally nothing to hide".