The Study of Aubrey Hepburn is an interesting one from my perspective as a guy growing up in the new millennium I had no real understanding of her significance. Sure I understood she was an attractive movie star who was famous for her beauty, talent and of course elongated cigarette holder. However I had no idea her influence was so great that it helped steal the spotlight from other actresses in Hollywood in the 1950's and that she would help mold film in Europe as well.
For a starting point I had no idea that she wasn't from America, upon reading this article is when I discovered that she is born in the Netherlands when its was controlled by Hitlers regime. The fact that she helped the Netherland's rebellion and witnessed a battle first hand as only a child is crazy. It was also a pleasant surprise for me when I discovered from the article that she was also a failed ballerina before she eventually made the transition to becoming an actress.
Going back to my first realization, its reassuring that Brown states that Hepburn's identity in her early movies is notoriously ambiguous saying that many audiences upon seeing her movies would label her as one of their own. This makes sense as she fits many different ethnic molds as she isn't distinctly American or European. However what confuses me is the way that people reacted her as being described as "boyish or a tom boy". I'd never once thought of her in that aspect, in-fact quite the opposite. To me she has always struck me as a symbol of femininity and sexuality, maybe that before this my usual reference point is her in the iconic black dress she wore.
This black dress and her other iconic styles would end up being one her most significant contributions during her time period. Her style would end up attracting many different followers that would try and replicate her style. Brown reinforces this idea stating that "Hepburns persona brought high fashion down to earth and made it accessible for the middle class women."
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