Photographs of Audrey Hepburn enjoying summertime on the golf courses at her Alpine hideaway – the Bürgenstock resort in Switzerland – are enough to spur you to stock up on ’50s sundresses and take up pitch and putt. The British actor – who was discovered at age 22 on the French Riviera by Gigi author, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette – rarely took to the beach (or, indeed, the driving range) without her pristine ballet pumps, wide-brimmed hats and striped parasols to hand.
Always immaculate and unfalteringly ladylike, Hepburn’s polished style will forever be linked to Hubert de Givenchy, with whom she collaborated on her costumes and personal wardrobe from her role in the 1954 romance Sabrina onwards. But her off-duty moments on holiday, larking around with her first husband Mel Ferrer, or nurturing her children, Luca and Sean, are where we see the style icon at her most relaxed and, dare we say, playful in the style department.
Here, 16 Audrey Hepburn pictures that show no one perfected prim warm-weather dressing quite like the Breakfast at Tiffany’s star.
PHIL BURCHMAN1/16
1956
On the set of War and Peace as the prim aristocrat, Natasha Rostova.
SILVER SCREEN COLLECTION2/16
1955
Hepburn pictured writing a letter in a picturesque palm grove with her straw boater beside her.
PICTORIAL PARADE3/16
Early 1950s
At ease wearing a jaunty hat and polka dot nautical wear on the stern of a boat in Switzerland.
SILVER SCREEN COLLECTION4/16
1960
Hepburn and her husband Mel Ferrer wearing checks with a bullish friend.
HULTON ARCHIVE5/16
1954
Posing with a parasol on a golf course in Switzerland.
SILVER SCREEN COLLECTION6/16
1955
Looking every inch the Hollywood doyenne in a floral-print day dress, wide-brimmed hat and pristine ladylike shoes and gloves.
ARCHIVE PHOTOS7/16
1967
Bug-eyed and fabulous as Joanna Wallace in Two for the Road.
HENRY CLARKE8/16
1971
Pushing her son, Luca, in an ornate pram in her garden in Italy for Vogue.
BETTMANN9/16
1954
During a balmy New York summer, Hepburn kept cool in printed playsuits.
BETTMANN10/16
1968
Playing the tourist and dashing across the busy Piazza Di Spagna in Rome.
BETTMANN11/16
1955
Hepburn practising her dancing skills – in particular the gavotte – for her role in War and Peace.
ARCHIVE PHOTOS12/16
1955
To the beach! In 1955.
BETTMANN13/16
1953
Hepburn as Princess Ann on the Spanish Steps in Roman Holiday.
MONDADORI PORTFOLIO14/16
1966
Filming Two for the Road in her signature polo neck and ballet pumps.
GRAPHIC HOUSE15/16
1954
Enjoying a spot of pitch and putt without any traditional golfing attire in sight.
GRAPHIC HOUSE16/16
1954
At her Alpine hideaway – the Bürgenstock resort in Switzerland – in summertime.
