If You Love Audrey Hepburn and French Style, We Need to Talk About Sabrina
I was admittedly somewhat of an old movie fanatic growing up. (Hey, they were new to me!) I was also an Audrey Hepburn fanatic from an early age when my interest in fashion was just starting to become apparent. Back in the '90s, there was no internet or Instagram to occupy my hours, so I watched movies like 1954's Sabrina until the VHS tape melted (yes, it can happen).
Since then, life got busier and the internet happened, so my infatuation with old movies took a backseat, but I recently was reminded of the aforementioned Sabrina and upon taking a look back, I came to a new realization about the film: It's where my French-girl infatuation began. Hepburn doesn't play a French girl, per se, but in the film, her character Sabrina has just returned from a long stay in Paris, seemingly having adopted the French-girl aesthetic along the way. Between the ballet flats, elegant LBDs, gamine cropped trousers, and coy midi dresses, every look was classic French girl. The already delightful film was made even more delightful by the fact that Paramount costume designer Edith Head worked with Hepburn's frequent wardrobe collaborator Hubert de Givenchy to design her costumes for Sabrina.
All these years later, I see why many tout Sabrina as being Hepburn's most stylish film: It's that French-girl factor (and the Givenchy factor certainly didn't hurt either…). See for yourself and shop the updated Sabrina look below.
Honestly, tell me you wouldn't wear this outfit this weekend.
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This became a signature Audrey Hepburn look.
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I've definitely seen French girls wearing this exact outfit formula in 2018.
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I could see Amal Clooney wearing this exact look to the Oscars.
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Sigh, this is how glamorous travel style used to be.
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New fancy cocktail party look, sorted.
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Next up, check out our original shoot with the ultimate cool girl, Sasha Lane.
Allyson is a senior editor for Who What Wear. She joined the company in 2014 as co-founder Katherine Power's executive assistant and over the years has written hundreds of stories for Who What Wear. Prior to her career in fashion, Allyson worked in the entertainment industry at companies such as Sony Pictures Television. Allyson is now based in Raleigh, North Carolina, and is originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She holds a BFA in theater. Her path to fashion may not have been linear, but based on the number of fashion magazines she collected as a child and young adult, it was meant to be.
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