Sunday, January 20, 2013

Audrey Hepburn - Style Icon


Audrey Kathleen Ruston was born on May 4, 19296 in Belgium.  Audrey spent her children between Belgium, England and the Netherlands.  Although Audrey was born in Belgium through her father she also was a British citizen.  Her father was Joseph Victory Anthony Ruston and later on he tagged on the name Hepburn to make his surname to become Hepburn-Ruston.  Audrey's father mistakenly believed that he was descended from James Hepburn who was the third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots.  Audrey's mother was Baroness Ella Van Heemstra.  Audrey's father became a Nazi sympathizer.  After Audrey's mother found her father in bed with the children's nanny Joseph Ruston left the family.

While in school in the Netherlands Audrey began studying ballet and took lessons for several years.  All was not all sunshine though in Audrey's life.  In 1940 Germany invaded the Netherlands.  During wartime Audrey suffered from malnutrition and anemia.  After the war ended in 1945 Audrey and her mother moved to Amsterdam where she continued studying ballet with Sonia Gaskell.  In 1948 Audrey moved to London with her mother so that she could study ballet with Marie Rambert.  During this time Audrey worked part time to help support the household. 

 

Audrey decided to change her focus to acting when Marie Rambert told her that being 5'7" tall and suffering from the effects of poor nutrition during the war would prevent her from becoming a prima ballerina. 


Audrey worked part time as a model while pursuing an acting career.

 

Audrey's fresh face look was very attractive and appealing.



















Audrey Hepburn became known as one the best dressed woman in the world.

 
Audrey with Salvatore Ferragamo.

 



































Audrey Hepburn left us in Switzerland on January 20, 1993.  Audrey was only 63 years old.
 





3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a lovely collection of photographs of a truly beautiful woman. Thank you. Seeing her photographs makes me want to become simply elegant, too.

Collar City Brownstone said...

I want to be simply elegant too.

Audrey is indeed beautiful. She also always conducted herself with grace and class. I wish that I could have found more photos of her in color.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful collection of photos. She is without a doubt the person I have most admired and looked up to over the years. After reading the book "An Elegant Spirit" written by her son I was even more enamoured. She was not only amazingly elegant and beautifully stunning...she was a lovely person.