StoryInColor
1950s-1960s

Audrey Hepburn

The benchmark for understated elegance

Audrey Hepburn rewrote what film-star glamour could look like. Where the early fifties wanted blonde, curvy, and overtly styled, Hepburn arrived gamine, dark-haired, and quiet, and an entire decade of fashion rebuilt itself around her register. Her partnership with Hubert de Givenchy carried that aesthetic through Sabrina, Funny Face, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and decades of off-screen photography. Her style still anchors the small black dress, the ballet flat, and the high updo as wardrobe defaults.

Face shape: Heart (see flattering cuts)

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Signature looks

  1. The Holly Golightly updo

    A high, sleek French twist worn with a tiara in Breakfast at Tiffany's. The reference shot for almost every formal updo since 1961.

    Flatters a heart-shaped faceFlatters an oval face

  2. The pixie crop

    Short, layered, gently feathered around the face. Hepburn cut her hair into a pixie before Roman Holiday's release and the look became a permanent part of her visual identity.

    Flatters a heart-shaped faceFlatters an oval face

  3. Soft swept-back fringe

    A side-swept fringe with the rest of the hair pulled gently back. The everyday version of her on-screen styling, photographed across decades.

    Flatters a heart-shaped faceFlatters a diamond face

Fashion signatures

  • The little black dress
  • Ballet flats and capri pants
  • Boatneck and turtleneck knits
  • Oversized sunglasses
  • Cropped trousers with flats

Why their style endures

Hepburn's contribution was a register: dark hair, slim silhouette, careful proportion, deliberate restraint. Sixty years on, almost every editorial that wants to signal classic elegance reaches for one of her signatures. The high updo with a fringe is still cut for first-time brides. The pixie crop continues to be one of the most copied short cuts in salons. Her style has outlasted almost every other star of her era because the choices behind it were structural rather than decorative.

Try Audrey Hepburn’s hair on your face

Hairstyle Analysis renders eight cuts directly onto a selfie of you, including the shapes Audrey Hepburn is most associated with. See which signature suits your features before any salon visit.

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$4.99 one-time, no subscription.

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