Audrey Hepburn: An Influential Role Model

On May 4, 1929, philanthropist and style heroine Audrey Hepburn was born near Brussels, Belgium. Unlike many other Hollywood film stars, she was not born into success. She had an arduous childhood, some of her younger years being spent hiding from the Nazis. Despite the suffering Audrey and her mother endured, she quickly blossomed into a beautiful young woman with a life overflowing with success. Across the world, people strive to follow in her chic and polished footsteps. Hepburn was, and remains to be, a timeless and iconic role model of elegance, grace, and sophistication for women worldwide. (Biography) Audrey Hepburn's childhood was not one of glitz and glamour. Her father left when she was young, and after that, she and her mother got entangled in World War II. When her parents divorced, her mother moved them to the Netherlands, which was quickly invaded by the Germans (Audrey1). The cruelty heightened when Germany restricted all trade routes that most people received their food from. This caused famine and starvation, and Audrey became malnourished. She even said that she had to "eat tulip bulbs as a source of nutrients" (Backlots). Eventually the country was freed and a branch of UNICEF provided an abundance of food, which is what inspired her to devote her time to
Along the way, she befriended designer Hubert De Givenchy, who became not only a friend, but a personal fashion consultant to her. Her elegance and effortless style made her a delicately prominent figure and set her aside from others vying for the same roles as her. She was offered many roles, but the material and subject matter of them didn't give her an opportunity to truly shine. With her talent, she knew she had the choice to pick her card on what roles she would take. She knew what she wanted, what lines she simply would not cross, and only took roles that she saw as fitting.