Hepburn's timeless beauty

“I never thought I'd land in pictures with a face like mine.” - Audrey Hepburn

Most people have heard of the legendary Audrey Hepburn, or at the very least they've seen her familiar face in films, kitsch handbags and other marketing campaigns.

The legendary actress was born in 1929 and died in 1993. She is best described by film historian, John Kobal, who said “celebrities die, but stars shine forever.” To this day Hepburn inspires the top fashion designers of all time. Actresses and famous people of all fields credit her for inspiration. She embodies grace, elegance and is in every way a classic. While growing up Hepburn had a passion for dance, especially ballet, which she studied, and had her mind set on becoming a professional ballerina. Born in Belgium in 1929 and moving to the Netherlands 10 years later during WWII, when the Nazi's occupied the country, was regressive for the aspiring dancer. She also stood about 5'10” in ballet shoes, an unreasonable height for a female ballerina, especially to acquire a male dance partner.

After the war, Hepburn moved to England and away from her childhood dancing dream and began staring in theatre shows, she got noticed, and the rest is history. Although her first film, Monte Carlo Baby, was released in 1951, she was best known for her roles in Breakfast at Tiffany's, Roman holiday, Funny Face, My Fair Lady and Paris When It Sizzles. In her prime, when Hepburn did a film, fashion would follow. Hubert de Givenchy (designer) and Hepburn collaborated in many films and he can easily be credited for helping her become the fashion and style icon she still was, and still is today.

Hepburn is on countless memorabilia to this date. She's on mugs, purses, photographs decorating homes, t-shirts, art, calendars and books are still being written about her. I highly recommend “The Audrey Hepburn Treasure” by Ellen Erwin and Jessica Z. Diamond.

In her last years Hepburn was very dedicated to UNICEF. She traveled to visit sick children in underdeveloped countries, long before it was “in style” to do so, like many current celebrities.

It will be hard for anyone to emulate the style and class that Audrey Hepburn radiated. Not once would you see Hepburn flash - on purpose or not - an up skirt, in any way, to a photographer or even take off her clothes, like many other starlets did and still do. She just simply didn't need to.

In the 1950's, a fellow performer (chorus girl) was quoted in a newspaper as saying, “I can't stand it, I've got the best tits on stage and yet they're all staring at a girl who hasn't got any.”

Hepburn can also be credited for making flats fashionable and wearing capri pants, not only for leisure wear but for high fashion, as well as making the colour black elegant, as she personified with ‘that black dress' worn in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Even 15 years after her death, Hepburn still graces the pages of some of the world's top fashion magazines such as Harpers Bazaar, Vogue and Glamour. Also, her natural beauty and fashion sense is still listed as one of “the best dressed women of all time.”