When Audrey Hepburn walked on the set of "Roman Holiday" she bucked the era’s fascination with curves and showed the world that being slender and flat chested was just as fascinating. Fans all over the world would follow her lead in fashion. Her status as a fashion icon would remain unchanged and would

Together with the French designer Hubert de Givenchy with whom she collaborated for most of her films, Hepburn created a fashion/ film union that has yet to be matched. With an innate knowledge of her flaws and attributes, Hepburn developed a unique style which perfectly complimented her personality and remained loyal to it throughout the seasons.

Over the years she would be responsible for bringing the little black dress, ballet flats, toreador pants and the black turtleneck to the forefront of fashion; all items of such simplicity that they still seem modern today.

Standing at 5ft7′ and weighing a mere 110lbs for most of her adult life, one of the great secrets of Hepburn’s elegance was her extraordinary ability to exploit her strong points to maximum advantage.

During the four decades of his association with Hepburn, Givenchy never once had to modify the mannequin which he had made for her at their first meeting in 1954; her shape and size remained consistent throughout her life.

Whilst most of us can only dream of possessing Hepburn’s naturally slender frame, there are number of key looks which can be adapted to suit all figures – the clinched waist, the three quarter sleeve, the trench coat and the tied neck scarf.

This is where Hepburn and Jackie Onassis (the only other woman in the history of style to make a boring black shift dress look desirable) succeed. They wore one style for the whole of their lives. They never made the mistake of following cyclical trends, but remained loyal to the clothes that suited them best. That is why they became bigger than fashion.

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