SCREEN SIRENS | Audrey Hepburn meets Vixen and Vamp
It’s amazing what people throw out. I rent a large room in a humble red brick WW2 home that happens to be situated in a very wealthy Sydney suburb. Recently, our neighbour’s were moving out, and had placed everything they weren’t taking with them out the front for council pick up. Among them, three huge suitcases of clothing, previously owned by a woman who happened to be my size. I walked away with a beautiful cotton jersey maxi dress that I wear every week, some amazing boots, a grey hooded cardigan, and a range of other wonderful little treasures. The most lovely of them all however; a little black A-line dress by Guess by Marciano, made from a luscious silk-satin, and backless.
The perfect little black dress.
Being a petite girl, I often take comfort in the screen sirens of the past. Yes you had your curvaceous goddesses such as Rita Hayworth and Anita Ekberg, but you also had leading women who may have been petite like me, but knew how to accentuate their unusual (often striking) facial features or body. Beyond sharing the same last name, actors Katherine Hepburn and Audrey Hepburn personify these qualities perfectly.
For Katherine, it was posture and presence and cheekbones and that voice, for her “film sister” Audrey, it was eyes, jawline, lips, and elongating her body so she always carried herself with femininity and grace. Both actresses also refused to pad their chests for scenes, a refreshing approach in body-positivity before society went a little mad with airbrushing and silicone - insisting petite women were somehow lacking. The 50’s weren’t particularly exciting in American cinema, and the stories involving women were often simplistic and unchallenging. And yet - the actresses knew how to work these roles and bring emotion and vibrancy to their characters, so much so that they consistently outshone their boring male counterparts.
Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell in feminist buddy comedy-musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
When it came to conveying personality, Audrey was demure, coquettish and quietly strong. Katherine was dripping with sass and allure. Personality wise I always related to Katherine, she had a tendency to make men uncomfortable with her defiance and honesty (John Ford, post-affair, described her as “half pagan and half Puritan”. There’s a mood.).
Now to the dress... On occasion, using found fashion, I like to channel a woman in film whose beauty and style I admire. I’ve recreated Uma Thurman as Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction, and I’ve been inspired by Charlize Theron as Lorraine in Atomic Blonde. Most recently, it was Audrey Hepburn and that divine Givenchy black dress she wears in Sabrina, paired with killer black patent leather stilettos ($6 from a thrift store), and vintage lace Dior stockings found for $2. I wanted to bring my own little hint of vamp and vixen (because between you and me, those girls always have the most fun).
💋
Comments