Being Audrey...

What Would Audrey Do?

Introduction

Audrey Hepburn was, and still is considered to be one of the most fashionable women of all time. This is not merely opinion. This is a fact.

First discovered in 1952 by William Wyler, she starred in over 20 films, was a mother to two, a fashion icon and a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. Her life seems to most, almost like a cinderella story, but this was far from the truth. Abandonned by her father as a child, something that would later affect both of her marriages, she grew up under Nazi occupation, suffered from malnourishment throughout her teenage years, survived through two broken marriages and lost a baby.

Despite such difficulties Audrey was always calm and sophisticated. She never shaved her hair off, never left the house without wearing any underwear, and never came rolling out of a club at 5am drunk and disorderly. In fact Audrey refused to live her life in the media and was humble about her hugely successful career once saying "I never think of myself as an icon. What is in other people's minds is not my mind. I just do my own thing."

All in all, not only was this woman beautiful and charitable, but she had an elegance that comes from within, the sort of charm that money could not buy. It was this, and her clear awareness of the world around her that made everyone who met her fall instantly in love.

However, had Hepburn's career taken place in the cut throat world of the 21st century, would her status as a fashion and cinematic idol be as dominant? If you examine some of the famous celebrities in the world today - Victoria Beckham, Katie Price, Paris Hilton - it is clear that neither talents, looks, nor sophistication is a neccessity in order to have a career in the public eye.

This new millenium is an information age. Due to the invention of the internet, alongside the increasing availability of celebrity magazines, such as OK and Heat, giving interviews and creating scandal becomes part of the job description.

Think about this though. In the modern day world, would any-one have noticed a shrinking violet like Audrey??

This is something I have often contemplated. How would some-one with the subtle values of the past fit into the not-so-subtle present day culture? So I though that I ought to do a little investagitive journalism of my own. For the next year of my life I will be living in accordance with the rules and the guidelines that Audrey herself used to do as outlined in Pamela Keogh's What Would Audrey Do?

Follow my successes and my failures througout this year and discover whether Audrey's values still have a place in the modern world? Is there anything that we can learn from Audrey's attitude, or are they simply outdated?

Until tomorrow

Annie Hughes
xxx