Style Maven: Audrey Hepburn

The elegant, rare career of Audrey Hepburn

I find taking the time to figure out who you are in life is essential to living successfully. The late Maya Angelou said, “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” That quote comes from the book which is the source of this month’s Style Maven series, “How to be Lovely: The Audrey Hepburn Way of Life” by Melissa Hellstern. If anyone has viewed my Instagram (@inmyfashionblog) within the past year and half, I have posted my DVD purchases of some of Ms. Hepburn’s most popular works, and they have become some of my most prized possessions. In my fashion, watching one of her films and seeing her perform I feel such a sense of innocent ingenuity in the characters she plays that one can’t help feel the credibility of the story being told. I get totally enveloped in the love, happiness, sadness, and anger in each scene. On top of being able to make one empathize with her character, in my fashion, it is impossible to deny how simply adorable she is to watch moving around on screen. Being a muse to  Hubert de Givenchy was a such a star-crossed partnership for Audrey and the courtier because it was such a mutable relationship for their careers as he would design many of the looks for her films that would translate into the classic Audrey Hepburn style we are familiar with today. With all the notoriety Hepburn acquired throughout her life, in my studies, it would appear as though she herself would not consider her fame what makes her most proud about her life. The fact that she was able to live was just enough, and I think its that attitude that we are so charmed by in this woman. 

As I said in my Editor’s Letter this month, if anyone wants to understand how to be truly happy in life, one should study the life and values of Ms. Hepburn—so I will make it easy for you to do so with my 10 part Style Maven series this month. In my fashion, after reading Hellstern’s book, Audrey Hepburn is a prime example of how to overcome the self-defeating attitudes we have of ourselves, and rise to the occasion where ever you are needed. For me personally, considering Hepburn was an introverted soul, she reminds me that being an introvert, it is possible to step out of one’s comfort zone to achieve the success we desire. We may be introverts, but that is not all that we are. I think she shows that there is strength in all of us (introverted or extroverted) to accomplish great successes and create a happy life, which is exactly why I preach of understanding what our unique strengths are so we can be as useful in this life as possible. She shows no matter how delicate, beautiful, or kind you are, we all have our tribulations in life, no matter how glorious we appear in the public eye, and at the end of the day we all have to work for the things we want in life, and one cannot fret over what one cannot control. Life gets on when you do, so make it happen! I would only hope that the following posts help you to figure out how to emulate some of that effervescence Audrey possessed by adjusting how you see life through her eyes.