Hi lovelies!,

I first saw Roman Holiday when I was a teenager, because my stepmother recommended it. It was a favorite of hers because she found the film realistic and she appreciated how it sidestepped the typical Hollywood happy ending. “Because the happy ending . . . you know, that’s not the way life is,” my stepmother said, or something to the effect. From that moment, I was completely transfixed by Audrey Hepburn.

The first short haircut I ever asked for as an adult was based on the haircut that Princess Ann asks for in Roman Holiday, and as a young twenty something, my whimsical femme style absolutely came out of being inspired by Roman Holiday.

Audrey and I certainly didn’t share the same body type, but I appreciated how unusual of a Hollywood star she was. There was a softness to the style that she articulated on screen (and had a good deal of influence, based on her collaboration with Hubert Givenchy, which began during Sabrina, one of my favorites of her films), and I appreciated that she somehow rose above being victimized by the expectations on women in Hollywood during that time.

But, there was something else about her, that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

I just finished watching Audrey, and now that I’m twenty years older than I was when I first laid eyes upon her, I can see it now. You felt a kind of awareness of herself, an emotional depth, and a presence, I think, that absolutely translated to the roles she played on screen. I could feel she had been through hardships in her life, but also that, despite her anxieties and insecurities, she had a deep sense of herself.

A few years ago, I taught a course called Literature and Film, a course that, sadly, Texas has now done away with. But I would teach the course through various lenses and focuses, and one semester, I taught the course as a kind of investigation of “girl vs woman,” aka Audrey Hepburn vs. Marilyn Monroe. It was titled: I want to know if you’ll be my girl: Representations of the Girl and Woman in 1950s/1960s Cinema. It was, without a doubt, one of the most exciting course I’ve ever taught, and we thought through ideas around the branding of Audrey Hepburn and the sexualization of Marilyn Monroe.

One of the reasons I was so intrigued by this “battle,” even though I’m certain that Audrey Hepburn never wanted to participate in such a competition, was that while I found myself inexplicably drawn to Audrey Hepburn, my mother was obsessed with Marilyn Monroe. Once, when I was a teenager, my mother took a photo of herself in a black negligee, kneeling underneath a framed photo of Monroe in a similar pose and dress, each arm next to each breast to accentuate her cleavage, just as Monroe had. I certainly had always been curious as to why my mother would take after Monroe the way that she had, especially given how caught Monroe had been in what men and the industry wanted her to be. But, it was through my mother I had learned that Monroe was incredibly well-read, and she had shown me photos of her without her makeup, in a garden, that had a sweetness one never saw of her on screen.

As I grew older, I grew to appreciate what Audrey made of her life even more, how she set to move forward and through incredibly difficult circumstances. As a white woman in Hollywood, it was quite unusual to have lived through WWII (including malnutrition and starvation), the abandonment of her father, and multiple miscarriages. I admire how Audrey always fought to live a private, intimate life, surrounded by children and family, one contextualized by love. The work she did for children all over the world through UNICEF is incredibly inspiring, and she remains someone I will always consider as one of my earliest icons, which started with style and poise, but extends further.

So! That leads me to my question for all of you: What was an early childhood icon for you? What was it that made them iconic? How do you see them now? Please leave me an answer, or a question! I’m dying to hear from you! <3

And here’s a free link to Audrey: I highly recommend it.

https://www1.bflix.to/movie/audrey-6wq34/qxw387w

With love,
Addie

Dear Addie

What's an icon who has inspired you?