I never thought I had a single thing in common with Audrey Hepburn. She was tall and decidedly slim. I’m short and, uh, not exactly slim. She was a brunette with enormous brown eyes. I’m a redhead with almond-shaped but not-so-enormous hazel eyes. She was a famed film star who won an Oscar at 24 (for 1953’s Roman Holiday) while my adolescent dreams of becoming an actress never became reality.
So I never saw myself as having anything in common with this glamorous star of the ’50s and ’60s. But a quick glance at a recent magazine article has convinced me that I have a few things in common with Audrey after all.
The article, appearing in the May issue of Vanity Fair, is based on a new book, Audrey in Rome, written by her younger son, Luca Dotti. Luca lived with Audrey in Rome from the time of his birth in 1970 until she left for Switzerland (and he went off to a Swiss boarding school) in 1986. As the magazine cover proclaims, in his book he recalls “the secrets of her iconic style.”
What were some of these secrets? Well, for one thing, she was “fond of kerchiefs tied under the chin (not wound around and fastened in back in the French manner).” Her love of sous-chin kerchiefs is apparent in a 1970 photo showing Audrey in a fabulous Givenchy coat and a scarf tied under her chin.
According to Luca, Audrey’s scarves were “a bit of a vice.” Although she wasn’t “like Imelda Marcos and shoes,” she had “maybe 30 or 40” scarves. In Rome, she often wore them along with big sunglasses as a disguise, enabling her “to do her shopping without having…crowds” following her.
This is one style-revelation I share with Audrey Hepburn. My love of scarves, like hers, could be called a vice, but in view of the small amount of space they occupy and the small sums of money they cost, they’re a pretty harmless one. I have a colorful collection in every possible fabric, suitable for every season, some bestowed on me as charming gifts, others purchased by me in a weak moment.
I admit I’ve never had crowds following me. But I wear scarves (usually tied under my chin) for my own reasons. In chilly weather, they keep my head warm. On warmer days, they shield my curly hair from humidity and wind.
Childhood photos taken by my father show me, like Audrey, wearing scarves tied beneath my chin. Ever since then, I’ve worn scarves no matter where I’ve made my home—from Chicago to Boston to Los Angeles. Now, living in breezy San Francisco, I almost never leave home without a scarf in my jacket pocket, prepared to withstand whatever breezes the ocean blows my way.
Some have ridiculed my penchant for wearing scarves. A friend once muttered that I liked to wear “babushkas.” That hurt. But now I can point to Audrey Hepburn as a scarf-loving style icon who, like me, wore scarves tied beneath her chin.
Another secret revealed by Luca is Audrey’s choice of footwear. Generally basing her style choices on “simplicity and practicality,” she preferred to wear ballerina flats and low heels. Vanity Fair claims that she wore them partly to accentuate her long feet, “adding to her elegant attenuation.” (Huh? Do you know any women with long feet who want to accentuate them?) But even VF admits the far more likely reason: she wore them so she “could walk comfortably.”
So here’s another preference I share with Audrey. Long ago I gave up wearing high heels. Like Audrey, I like to stride purposefully through the city, and wearing anything but low heels makes that impossible. Every day I see women struggling with high heels that inhibit their freedom to move through life with ease. I ache to tell them to forgo those high heels, and like Audrey and me, walk comfortably and safely wherever they go.
[Please note: I’ve written another post on this blog, “High Heels Are Killers,” explaining at greater length my opinion of high heels.]
If truth be told, when I was younger, I wasn’t a big fan of Audrey Hepburn. Maybe it was the way Hollywood portrayed her that was to blame. After Roman Holiday (in which she fell in love with reasonably age-appropriate Gregory Peck), she was paired with male leads who were far too old for her. At 28 she was supposedly smitten by Gary Cooper, then 56 (and looking even older), in Love in the Afternoon and by 58-year-old Fred Astaire in Funny Face. I found these pairings simply baffling. Why would radiant young Audrey fall for men twice her age? At the time, I was unaware of the way Hollywood worked back then. It’s clear to me now that she was complying with the demands of the movie moguls who dictated most of the roles she played.
No wonder she confided to friends that her favorite role was that of the nun in The Nun’s Story. No superannuated men were slobbering over her in that role!
My view of Audrey Hepburn evolved as I learned more about her. In her later years, she became an activist on behalf of UNICEF, traveling to more than 20 countries around the globe to advocate for the world’s most vulnerable children. Her advocacy has endeared her to me, a fellow advocate for the underprivileged.
Moreover, during those years, she openly chose to welcome growing older. Luca remembers that she “was always a little bit surprised by the efforts women made to look young.” By contrast, “she was actually very happy about growing older because it meant more time for herself, more time for her family, and separation from the frenzy of youth and beauty that is Hollywood.” She saw aging as part of the circle of life.
Audrey liked to say that “true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It’s the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows. The beauty of a woman only grows with passing years.”
Some may remember Audrey Hepburn as a stunning style icon, but in my view, she should be remembered for much, much more.
susanjustwrites
Susan Just Writes 