Vicenta M. Puerta Zaballos 130588655

Vicenta Maria Puerta Zaballos

130598655

COM2080

Celebrity Culture

Audrey Hepburn: a Legend

Submission date:

25th of November 13

Word Count:

1503 words

I declare that this assignment is my own work and that I have correctly acknowledged the work of others. This assignment is in accordance with University and School guidance on good academic conduct (and how to avoid plagiarism and other assessment irregularities). University guidance is available at www.ncl.ac.uk/right-cite

1

Vicenta M. Puerta Zaballos 130588655

Audrey Hepburn: a Legend

“I never think of myself as an icon. What is in other people's minds is not in my

mind. I just do my thing.” These are the words of a woman that nowadays is a

society icon; I’m talking about Audrey Hepburn.

She was born on 4 May 1929 in Brussels (Belgium). She lived her early years in

Holland, but after her parents' divorce in 1938 she moved to London. She studied

one of her great passions, Dance and Drama in the Marie Rambert School. With

the outbreak of World War II, just as she began to excel in ballet, she had to

return to Holland but with the end of the conflict she returned to United Kingdom

where she began working as a model and soon after as a theatre actress.

In 1953, the film “Roman Holiday” launched Audrey Hepburn into stardom. She

portrayed a princess on an official tour in Italy that run away from protocol and

lives an affair with a journalist, played by Gregory Peck. The most unforgettable

outfit that marked trend is the princess who choose to break the city incognito,

and accurately reflect the tastes of young debutante: white shirt, sandals, a wide

skirt with a thick belt set and a small neckerchief. From overnight, without

intending it, she was beginning to make fashion trends. The 25 th march 1954 she

won the Oscar of Best Actress of this movie.

With the huge success of “Roman Holiday”, Paramount again asked Audrey to

make a second film and hired her to star in "Sabrina". Directed by Billy Wilder,

with Humphrey Bogart and William Holden. Audrey reinforced her star status and

became friends with a young French designer called Hubert de Givenchy.

2

Vicenta M. Puerta Zaballos 130588655

Nevertheless, it was not until aged 31 when she shot what would be her most

iconic character: Holly Golightly, star of Breakfast at Tiffany's, based on the book

written by Truman Capote. That character immortalized her as an icon of

elegance.

In an era where women with curves and explosive aspect were valued, a young

frail and extremely thin woman, with high neck and big eyes, managed to be the

centre of attention in the cinema world and managed to revolutionize canons of

films and fashion from the 1950s. That girl was Audrey Hepburn. Her type of

body created an impact, because it had never seen anything like that before. She

was a little bit boyish but extremely feminine, she was gorgeous but not in an

obvious way.

Audrey embodies elegance and personality through her body. According to

Bourdieu (1986: 190) he says, “that the body is the most indisputable

materialization of class taste, which it manifest in several ways”, even though she

always tried to flee from labels and false awards, she marked a distinction.

Audrey created an exclusive “habitus” thru her own style, body and charisma; she

didn’t try to force on being someone else, she was natural and herself. A

(gendered) individuals’ habitus is shaped normally in childhood or by family,

regarding her extremely thinness I must point out that Audrey Hepburn suffered

untold hardships during World War II, during this period of time she endured

malnutrition that nearly end with her life. That drama made her to have a skinny

and frail appearance for the rest of her live.

Dyer (1979) points out that “stars play characters, that is, constructed

3

Vicenta M. Puerta Zaballos 130588655

representations of persons”, Audrey in Roman Holiday embodied a princess who

become “ordinary” for a day: “the Cinderella motif that marks Hepburn as a star”

(Moseley 2002). Because of her dancing training in Marie Rambert she had a

touch of delicacy and poise that intensified her role, she played at the same time

being an aristocratic princess and being a common woman in Roma Street.

Audrey’s transparent image makes us to familiarise with her, which has been

fundamental to her charisma. As Dyer says, “authenticity is necessary to secure

star status generally” (Moseley 2002), Audrey has flaws and she knew it, they

made her being real, which made other women to identify with her. "I'm not

beautiful. My mother once called me an ugly duckling. But, listed separately, I

have a few good features” (Audrey Hepburn).

Audrey femininity broke rules because she was “modern”. In one hand, she

imposed a short hairstyle that all women wanted to imitate. In the other,

Hepburn’s characteristic and common look was using headscarves, big

sunglasses, capri pants, white shirts and her indistinguishable ballerinas. Rarely

was to see her with some eye-catching jewellery, she was natural and preferred

pearls. Audrey was Hubert Givenchy designer muse, he was responsible for

creating the Audrey Hepburn style, the most recognizable style was the back

cocktail dress she wore in Breakfast at Tiffany’s or the impressive white strapless

dress that she used in Sabrina (he was unaccredited), both of them symbol of

elegance. We can also emphasise the coats and hats that Audrey dressed in

Charade or the black lace dress- sublime with the mask of the same tissue-

which wore in How to steel a million. (Moseley 2002)

4

Vicenta M. Puerta Zaballos 130588655

Gledhill (1991) mentions that many stars repeated genres throughout their

careers, there are cases where the celebrity is associated with a particular role

that define them for the rest of their lives, but in my opinion Audrey Hepburn

breaks this topic because we can see her like a shy girl in Roman Holiday,

5

Vicenta M. Puerta Zaballos 130588655

seductively in Breakfast at Tifanny’s, elegant in Sabrina and without forgetting her

character in Nun’s Story one of her most dramatic, daring and charismatic

characters, it is undoubtedly one of the best films of Audrey. Notwithstanding,

many people only see Audrey as a fashion icon for her performance as Holly in

Breakfast at Tiffany's. Films in Review stated that her performance "will forever

silence those who have thought her less an actress than a symbol of the

sophisticated child/woman. Her portrayal of Sister Luke is one of the great

performances of the screen” since she had the opportunity to play a role without

an exquisite costume designer, without makeup and with nothing to distract the

public from its credibility as an actress.

According to Gerrie Lim (2005) “in the artificial and image-conscious world of

advertising through fashion, cosmetics, and the body there exists the ultimate

embodiment of celebrity branding”. Originally, Hubert de Givenchy created the

perfume L’Interdit, just for her; she was the lucky one who had the privilege to

enjoy the perfume created by the designer. It is known the deep friendship that

united both of them. It was in 1957 when Hubert de Givenchy decided to market

the fragrance and then received by a terse reply Audrey: Mais c'est interdit! (It is

forbidden). Finally, the fragrance went on sale to the public and took its name

from the phrase pronounced by the actress, who finally accepted other women

could also enjoy her perfume. Who wouldn’t like to smell like her? It is a perfect

way to feel like Audrey Hepburn.

They say that the important thing about fame is not reaching it, but staying

famous. Many artists achieve stardom and public recognition, but just a few

manage to remain in the collective memory, even after their death.

6

Vicenta M. Puerta Zaballos 130588655

As John Gray (2004) says the cult of a celebrity is essential for the economy

capitalism “in a economy driven by the need to manufacture demand, fame sells

everything else” and after Audrey’s death and twenty years later there still have

been an over commercialisation in marketing and merchandising stores, where

her face is in bags, paintings, cigarrete cases and in all kinds of objects. The

famous picture came from “a few posed shots taken by photographer Howell

Conant during the production of Breakfast at Tifanny’s” (Paul McDonald 2013).

As I said, her personal brand had much to do with the look of Breakfast at

Tiffany's, which has generated thousands of photographs and images that still

live by that haircut, her style, her smoking and her eyes. Moreover, her famous

black cocktail dress from Givenchy was auctioned in 2006 for €700,000, amount

that fate entirely to the founding of the actress.

We can also see how many famous celebrities (like Natalie Portman, Anne

Hathaway or Penelope Cruz) have tried to imitate her style generation after

generation. Audrey is an icon that goes far away from fashion and cinema.

7

Vicenta M. Puerta Zaballos 130588655

In conclusion, after all these years she is still present and remembered. “Audrey

Hepburn may be dead but the value of her posthumous star lives on” (Paul

McDonald). She has been digitally resurrected 20 years after her death to

advertise chocolates. Galaxy British brand in particular. In the spot we can see a

Hepburn in the 1950’s getting off a bus tour, in the Amalfi coast, to sit in the car.

And incidentally, she takes advantage of it to catch a piece of chocolate. She also

appeared in a Gap commercial in 2006, using clips of her dancing in the film

Funny Face, set to AC/DC’s “Back in Black”, with the slogan “It’s time to come

back- the skinny black pants”.

8

Vicenta M. Puerta Zaballos 130588655

REFERENCES

Moseley, Rachel (2002). Growing up with Audrey Hepburn. Manchester

University Press

McDonald, Paul (2013). Hollywood Stardom. Wiley-Blackwell. A John Wiley &

Sons, Ltd., Publication

Gledhill, Christine (1991). Stardom Industry of Desire. London and New York:

Routledge.

Bordieu, P. (1986) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste.

London: Routledge.

Dyer, Richard. (1979) Stars. BFI Publishing, British Film Institute

Gray, John. (2004) Heresies: Against Progress And Other Illusions.

Lim, Gerrie, (2005) Idol to Icon: The Creation of Celebrity Brands.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6209658.stm

9

Vicenta M. Puerta Zaballos 130588655

Filmography: The Nun’s Story

http://web.archive.org/web/20060214090022/http://www.audrey1.com/films/

nun.html

http://www.brandingmagazine.com/2013/02/28/audrey-hepburn-galaxy-chocolate/

http://www.biographyonline.net/humanitarian/hepburn-quotes.html

10