When Audrey Hepburn was first cast as Holly Golightly in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Truman Capote, the author of the novel, was utterly disheartened. Capote said that it made him “want to throw up,” and that Marilyn Monroe had been his first choice. At a time when Hollywood idolized sex symbols such as Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn was seen as the complete odd one out. She merged traditionally masculine and feminine features by donning thick, straight brows, and her extreme slenderness was in direct contrast to Monroe’s ‘curvier’ look. She was commonly viewed as innocent, charming and elegant, but never daring enough to play the role of Holly Golightly — a New York girl who had no job and made a living by socializing with wealthy men. Soon afterwards, however, Hepburn’s style and persona was emulated by the average woman in the 1960s. As Rachel Moseley describes in her book, Growing up with Audrey Hepburn: Text, Audience, Resonance (2002), women grew to love Hepburn’s natural and boyish look, while remaining ‘lady-like’ by the standards of the time. The black trousers and flat ballet-style pumps that…
How Audrey Hepburn and Faten Hamama Changed Women’s Character on Screen
September 1, 2023
