the eternal relevance of Audrey Hepburn

[Music] hello my darling little doves welcome back today i thought i would do a video relating to old hollywood i've actually been thinking about doing like an old hollywood related video for a while because i love old hollywood i've loved old hollywood since i was a little girl but i ultimately decided to do my first video in this topic on audrey hepburn and this is because audrey hepburn was my gateway into the old hollywood fascination to begin with and judging from the amount of magazine articles that are written about her every year and the amount of breakfast at tiffany's merchandise floating around on the internet i would say that audrey hepburn was the gateway drug for a lot of people as well and yes i'll be the first of us to admit that i had a picture of audrey and breakfast at tiffany's up in my bedroom wall when i was in middle school even though i had not seen breakfast activities yet at that point in my life and you know i was thinking um along that train of being an audrey poser there are just so many people who know of her despite maybe not even having seen breakfast at tiffany's or roman holiday or watching any of her interviews people just know who she is they know her image and it led me to this question what is the cultural relevance of audrey hepburn i mean objectively it's not hard to be captivated by her the way she carries herself the way she dresses the way she talks it's all very elegant but there are also plenty of old hollywood actresses who are just as elegant and there's not like a million redbubble designs of them so why audrey well let's set the scene it's the early 1950s where finally in the post-war era and in the words of christian dior women long to be women again no more boxing uniforms no more clothing rations we want opulence dior released his collection dubbed the new look in 1947 and it took europe and america by storm the style of his collection was so feminine the silhouettes were so flowery this is what the post-war era needed and consequently his collection re-established paris as the center of fashion obviously couture is called couture for a reason and the majority of women could not afford the real deal but retailers like i magnan would reproduce parisian designs in america at cheaper prices so that even aspiring middle-class women could afford to be trendy fashion was widespread at this time and everyone and their mother wanted to be stylish well not everyone's mother but you get the point now what was going on in hollywood at this time major starlets in the early 1950s like elizabeth taylor and marilyn monroe all had one thing in common talent is what everyone should have been thinking but sadly no it the answer is body and in the 1940s and 50s the hollywood starlet look was pretty much all the same many of the starlets were curvier their makeup was really done up and their dresses were hyper feminine following the new look style these starlets proposed a beauty idea that was super unattainable for the everyday women but this all changed when audrey hepburn stepped into the spotlight to star in the major motion picture roman holiday released in 1953. she was described early on by photo play as a flat-chested slim hipped and altogether un marilyn monroe-ish and for a lot of young women of the 1950s audrey's unmarilyn monroe-ishness is what made audrey so appealing alison fell wrote a short autobiographical piece called rebel with a cause that was featured in the book dare truth or promise girls growing up in the 50s in it she mentions how unrelatable all those other hollywood starlets were aspiring to femininity feels like imagining you climb mount everest all these film stars don't possibly hourglass and formed and grown up lana turner and marilyn with their hips and hand span waist and big cone-shaped breasts it's still years remember before twiggy and flat chest denim and the androgynization of glamour only audrey hepburn gives cause for hope of course audrey's 20-inch waist is not relatable for the majority of women but in the context of 1950s hollywood literally like all the starlets were beautiful curvaceous women and when someone who is so different from the mold shows up you as a viewer who's also different from the molds might just want to root for the new girl just because even though she's different from you she's still going in and shaking up the standards that's one theory i have another theory i have is that women a lot of women just hated sex symbols like marilyn monroe and jane mansfield and they probably viewed audrey hepburn as the antithesis of these women that they hated because of the way audrey looked i can imagine you know some young girl named dolly or something going to see roman holiday for the first time and being like wow finally a hollywood actress with smaller boobs than me i guess i can take my boyfriend to see this movie i don't know actually i do know because i stumbled across this research paper by rachel mosley back in 2000 and it's called trousers and tiaras growing up with audrey hepburn in it she interviews two generations of british women on their thoughts and feelings about audrey hepburn the first group grew up in the 50s and 60s and the second group grew up in the 90s i just want to read this little snippet from this interview with janet a woman in the 50s and 60s group i just wonder why you know you were attracted as a role model as opposed to say uh marilyn monroe uh to me marilyn monroe was just tardy really absolutely and utterly what why do you think well she just looked it and all the films that she acted and portrayed that type of person and she did absolutely nothing for me at all so why wouldn't you have gone for that i mean that so because i wouldn't want to look like she looked even though blondes were supposed to be more attractive to men that wasn't important to me because i just wouldn't have wanted to look like a tart and audrey hepburn was totally was absolutely opposite to that i mean she looked um a really nice sort of person she may not have been but she she gave that impression and people would well girls would want to be like that i would have thought rather than like marilyn monroe another interviewee from the same demographic bernie said that bridget bordeaux was made for men and that we girls took no notice of her at all stars like monroe and bardot were the enemy and audrey hepburn was one of the girls you could really relate to her okay i mean i'm gonna let anyone say whatever they want about bridget bartow because she's racist but in the year 2021 no more slander on marilyn monroe please it's over game over so i would argue that part of why audrey is so iconic is because of how different she looked from other starlets of the time period how she was perceived as being classy over sexy because apparently those ideals couldn't coexist in one of mostly's interviews this time with a younger woman named lucy from the 90s group lucy described audrey as a safe rival a bit less than like marilyn monroe wouldn't be a safe rival you know you don't think sexy when you see audrey hepburn do you you think sweet but it's not just that audrey looked different because i hate to say it if audrey was fat or if she was a woman of color there's no way that she would have been solidified in the mainstream culture nor would she have gotten like any opportunities but that's another issue audrey was different but she still matched a beauty standard in place it just wasn't the standard for hollywood yet but let's look at the fashion industry according to galen studdler who wrote the journal article chichi cinderella audrey hepburn as couture counter model post-war high fashion made the physical ideal of the french mannequin long slender neck a slim waisted body and long legs the increasingly desired physical type for fashionable clothes by the mid-1950s there was a trend towards suits and skirts that emphasized a straight silhouette by 1957 the new york times remarked that dior himself was growing fatter and fatter but his mannequins get thinner and thinner straighter and straighter flatter and flatter so audrey hepburn was actually the ideal figure for the fashion industry and where it was headed it also definitely added to her allure the fact that americans associated high fashion in class with europe and audrey was european and this is the perfect segue to my next point audrey is iconic for her fashion but this is emphasized by the fact that she's also built like a fashion model let's talk a little bit about audrey's style givenchy said that audrey always added a twist something pecan amusing to the clothes though of course i advised her she knew precisely what she wanted she knew herself very well for example which is her good profile and which is her bad she was very professional no detail ever escaped her audrey was someone who knew what parts of her body she wanted to show off and what parts she wanted to hide for example she liked to wear ballet flats because she was tall and didn't want to tower over people she wasn't afraid to incorporate masculine elements or to dress down her casual style usually consisted of cigarette pants or a simple skirt and a button-down shirt or turtleneck following along with 60s trends she was often wearing a hat or a headscarf and she liked mini skirts and mod coats but something unique to her is that she didn't overindulge in jewelry accessories or makeup she said before jewelry just doesn't suit me and if i wear too much makeup my face looks like a mask instead of me put me in furs and jewels and i look like something off a barrel organ she's of course known for her little black dresses and generally any garment with clean lines there were a couple of interesting fashion moments throughout her life but for the most part audrey is known for very simple yet fashion forward silhouettes her most famous breakfast at tiffany's dress is a perfect example of this style the front covers her collarbones which was something she had said she was insecure about because they were so prominent but the back makes the dress look unique and puts a bit of flair to it she was known for wearing javanci both on and off screen in fact she was his muse and givenchy actually had a mannequin with her measurements to inspire him when she wasn't around but she also felt a very special connection to him and his designs and she's made that very clear throughout her life in 1956 she told reporters his are the only clothes in which i am myself and in a july 1969 issue of mccall's magazine she said i depend on javon she in the same way that american women depend on their psychiatrist not everyone can or could afford givenchy but the reason everyone loves audrey's style so much is because the simplicity of javon she's designs coupled with her low effort styling are viewed as accessible my looks are therefore attainable because tell me how because it can look like already hepburn if they want to but cutting off their hair by buying the large glasses by having a little sleeveless dresses i'm not talking about now i created a look in order to make something of myself audrey hepburn created an iconic look but it was one that normal woman could replicate she showed women how they didn't need to wear a ton of jewelry or sleep in hair rollers every night to feel like or look like a movie star i don't want to misinform you all by implying that she only wore jamashi throughout her entire life she took a hiatus from acting in 1968 and started working for unicef in the 80s which didn't pay too well audrey's friend countess lorraine livitelli actually said that when audrey was living in rome she had asked her for recommendation for a dressmaker because givenchy was just too expensive for her at that time the countess then introduced her to valentino and she loved his clothes audrey also started wearing a lot of ralph lauren later in life in 1995 ralph lauren confirmed with barry paris that audrey had told him i love jamal she for night but i love your sport clothes for daytime but i guess the question is how did audrey develop this audrey style even though her first big film was roman holiday and audrey admitted that working with edith head taught her how to dress her body i would say that sabrina was the game changer in terms of making audrey a fashion icon this is because sabrina was her first collaboration with javon she but not a lot of people knew that at the time of the movie's release edith head the reigning queen of costume design during the 1950s was initially asked to do the costumes for sabrina but what ended up happening is that billy wilder the director actually decided he wanted audrey to wear real parisian clothes after her little cinderella transformation in the movie if you haven't seen this movie basically sabrina goes off to paris and comes back as this blooming flower edith head was not happy about this because this meant that she would only be designing audrey's pre-transformation outfits which were a lot less exciting and glamorous but she reluctantly agreed and she sent audrey to paris to look for her costumes that's when audrey met uber givenchy was 26 at the time and he was still young in the industry uh there are some sources that say audrey was actually sent to see crystal ball balenciaga first because balenciaga was way more established at the time but he said he was too busy because he was focused on making his next collection and he referred audrey to go see javon she who used to work under him when giovanshi heard that a miss hepburn was going to be arriving he initially thought it was going to be katherine hepburn catherine hepburn was a much more well-known actress at the time she made her hollywood acting debut in the 1930s so her name's just been around for longer he was surprised when he saw audrey but he did tell her that he didn't have time to make her any custom clothes because he was also focused on making his next collection and audrey was kind of like well okay i'll let me just see what you've already made audrey picked out three outfits to be used in the movie the sophisticated town suit and turpin the black satin cocktail dress and the strapless white ball gown with black embroidery and ruffle and of course audiences watching fell absolutely in love with the designs the hollywood reporter said this is the best woman's picture since three coins in the fountain it's too bad that the storytelling wardrobe has not been shot in color and the movie really made it clear that they were purposely showing off audrey's wardrobe too there were a lot of lingering shots in the clothing and the way that audrey posed in them was very model-like jackie stacey conducted a study where she talked to a bunch of british female moviegoers in the 40s and 50s she concluded that these women enjoyed the scenes that focused on the character's clothing she says these shots provide the film's female audience members ample time and a generous view so that they may study costume details and admire the heroine's enviable ability to use fashion as a traditional feminine path to social improvement and of course romantic happiness sabrina's new french clothes are not only beautiful but they are integral to the story representing her moving up in life and what's really interesting is that audrey dressed very similarly on screen as she did off screen at least at the peak of her fame so i feel like there's a lot of confusion where people don't know the difference between audrey and her characters and a lot of that is because audrey's off-screen style and image are so tied to her on-screen characters this is also exacerbated by the fact that there's a consistency across many of her most memorable roles in roman holiday breakfast at tiffany's charade and how to steal a million audrey's characters have a very similar je ne sais quoi they all carry themselves in an upper class manner are dressed in couture clothing and move gracefully across the screen and in the movies sabrina funny face and my fair lady audrey's characters go through cinderella transformations where they inevitably end up like all the other upper class characters in the movies i previously mentioned these cinderella transformations are especially impactful because they depict a modest everyday kind of girl who becomes a desirable couture woman but who still retains her sweet personality the cinderella transformation trope is also surprisingly resonant with audrey's personal life in 1939 the nazis marched into her homeland and for the next five years audrey learned what it was like to be hungry to be afraid to hide from the bombs to simply survive and then with this tragic backstory she grew up to become this glamorous actress audrey's characters are also perceived as very young usually younger than her actual age they're kind of sexually immature which is interesting because audrey did have her own string of love affairs and scandals throughout her life the girls she plays are also fun and adventurous princess anne runs away from her duties to explore rome and have a good time holly golightly just does whatever she wants whenever she wants sabrina when she puts on her black dress looks elegant but retains her youthful charm in the words of studdler such moments illustrate how hepburn's persona brought high fashion down to earth and made it emotionally accessible to young middle-class women i think what's interesting is that a lot of her appeal is this apparent relatability because her characters are mostly transitional characters representing a stage in life where young women are carefree and bear no responsibilities one of mosley's young interviewees anna said audrey is accessible unlike other stars but bases her assessment on holly go lightly and not really audrey herself it's like ingrid birdman you couldn't imagine sort of like come on ingrid let's go down to the pub or something like that but you could imagine taking audrey hepburn out you know like the bit where they get drunk and breakfast at tiffany's you're just thinking this could be you you know like you're sort of in a bar with audrey sort of thing you know molly haskell a feminist film critic believed that audrey's playfully adolescent characters combined with her flat body type evoked strong feelings of identification with young girls who longed for a time when they didn't have their boobs and curves that they felt imprisoned them to the role of woman and mother the irony is that audrey was actually very motherly and she loved taking care of children you made the film wait until dark in 1967 and then it was something like 10 years before you made another film why did you stop i quit movies to stay with my children because i couldn't take the stress of being away from my son i missed him too much i became emotionally unhappy and later in life up until she tragically died of cancer in 1992 audrey devoted herself to working with unicef as a humanitarian ambassador where she would travel the world and nurse impoverished children and if this career has given me has left me with something very special it's the fact that it's left me with this whatever it is this voice this curiosity people have still to see me to talk to me which i can use for the good of children what could be nicer a lot of people who consume her image today don't really know this about her and while i think what she did was significant and definitely tells you more about who she was at a person i don't think that her unicef work necessarily contributed to her legacy in the mainstream culture i feel like audrey's legacy is not directly related to her real personality though i'm sure she was lovely but based on people's projection of who she was when they watch her movies in the words of chloe one of mosley's young interviewees audrey seems to be her in all of her films although she's sort of different characters there seems to be this kind of thing that you can't define as present in all her films and her and she's kind of her in all her films when she's doing on screen she totally seems natural and that she's doing all the things she would be doing off-screen in a world where everyone seems to be fake or trying too hard or catfishing on social media audrey's authenticity reinforced by her acting and style consistency is refreshing and timeless so this is the end thank you all so much for watching let me know in the comments what you think about audrey hepburn what actresses you would want to hear me talk about maybe later in the future or you know just how your day's going i'll see you next time bye [Music] you

Channel: Mina Le

Views: 303,496

Rating: 4.9773898 out of 5

Keywords: audrey hepburn, style analysis, breakfast at tiffany's, holly golightly, roman holiday, sabrina, edith head, hubert de givenchy, givenchy, audrey, hepburn, old hollywood, hollywood, fashion analysis, media commentary, audrey hepburn movies, audrey hepburn documentary, audrey hepburn biography

Id: nrHo3UCMDPY

Length: 21min 9sec (1269 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 03 2021