Iconic Audrey Hepburn Hat Style

Some images stay in your mind and connect a visual with a style. An example, the beloved actress of the fifties and sixties, Audrey Hepburn, an ambassador of beauty and elegant taste. She continues to inspire designers, hat makers, wardrobe assistants and anyone appreciative of her undefining sense of style. A combination of her petite figure and delicate manners, and of course her acting skills, captured her fashionable persona. The unforgettable headwear from Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), the splendid large black chapeau du Martin jumping out from the screen, telling viewers-you want to wear this. Its wide-brimmed downward slant suggesting a sophisticated sensuality from the wearer. Recent images show the Duchesses of Cambridge and Sussex donning the chapeau. A timeless hat piece.

Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (1964), pushed into high gear Ascot’s headwear extravaganza. Designed by milliner extraordinaire, Madame Paulette, the over-the-top hats captured the style and fashion of the horseracing set, as well as showed the grandness of an accessory. Although a designer and hat maker are the creators, the wearer is the presenter.  Every hat is unique on its wearer, but the style is shared. The pillbox hat, glamorized by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, found equal glamour onscreen with Audrey Hepburn in Charade (1963).

Audrey Hepburn and the hats she wore will remain an iconic visual in the fashion and style universe. Hopefully, it will inspire designers to create hats in our environmentally conscious world for women to consider wearing.