That’s So Audrey!

By: Sara Koonar

In a time when androgynous, pixie-like models and celebrities are considered “it” girls, you can’t help but look back at the originator of quirky-chic, Audrey Hepburn. Whereas other actresses of her time were known merely as buxom blondes – for example, Jean Harlow and Marilyn Monroe – Hepburn was recognized for her superior fashion sense. No girls’ night is complete without Breakfast at Tiffany’s on DVD.

The phrase, “That’s so Audrey” can be heard in dressing rooms across the world. As fashion relives the trends of the ‘60s, we see traces of Hepburn when walking by a hipster wearing large black sunglasses. Nineteen-year-old history major Kate Paddison, a communications student at Ryerson officially began her Audrey obsession when her mother gave her a box set of Hepburn’s most famous movies: Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Funny Face and Roman Holiday.

Kate Paddison in her "Audrey Room".

“I just liked how unique she was,” Paddison said. “She was an individual. She wasn’t pretty by most people’s standards because she was skinny and sort of alienlooking, but there was something so beautiful about her.” Paddison’s bedroom is dedicated to Hepburn. She has pictures hung over her bed, a calendar behind her door and an impressive collection of Hepburn’s movies and books on her bookshelf. “My friends and family know I love Audrey, so whenever they see something with her they buy it for me,” Paddison, dressed in an outfit inspired by her idol, jokes about her collection. “I like to shop vintage so if I see something that looks like Audrey’s style I will definitely get it.”

Charlie Keil, a professor of cinema studies in the department of history at the University of Toronto, thinks Hepburn is well-known for her fashion sense because fashion was central in her movies. “The films cemented the association with her and glamour and haute couture,” he said. “Funny Face is about fashion photography;
it very much acknowledges that she was somebody of fashion,” he explains.
Today there are few celebrities that can be compared to Hepburn, but Keil believes her current popularity has something to do with the success of Sex and the City, starring Sarah Jessica Parker. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s was about a fashionable and single woman in Manhattan and Sex and the City has a similar concept,” he said. “Sarah Jessica Parker is the TV equivalent of Hepburn because people watch what she wears and what designers she supports.”

Laura Murray, 44, a working mother, has always looked to Hepburn as an inspiration, for both her style and zest for life. “Today, actresses are not natural. They are surgically altered, nipped and tucked.” Murray said. “Audrey was naturally beautiful and proud of herself, proud of every emotional marker on her lovely face.” Murray is inspired by Hepburn’s dedication to helping children and working with UNICEF. “She has left an imprint on the
world through her love of children and improving their lives all over the world,” she said. Because of Hepburn’s personality, Murray likes to emulate her style. “She was a free spirit,” she said. “Her classic style is seen in every little black dress or flowing evening gown ever worn.”

According to Keil, Hepburn’s ability to merge her fun-loving personality and fashion sense made her an icon to women of all ages. “There is a way in which she embodies a kind of self-confidence, but tempered with vulnerability that was very appealing to Americans,” Keil said. “Audrey is vaguely European and that helps typify her as someone who can represent something different.”
Paddison vows to pass down her admiration of Hepburn to her children as well, just as her mother did for her.
Murray has passed her love for Hepburn down to her 13-year-old daughter Tawsha, who named her toy rabbit Audrey. On weekends she and her daughter have a Hepburn movie marathon. “I went shopping for a dress recently and when I found one, I looked in the mirror in the dressing room and said ‘Oh my, this looks almost identical to the black dress from Breakfast at Tiffany’s’,” Murray shares. “I bought it!”

Tags: Audrey Hepburn, Fashion Inspiration