Growing up with Audrey Hepburn

Rachel Moseley is Lecturer in Film and Television Studies at University of Warwick

The first full length academic study of Hepburn's star persona and films featuring reseach into the experience of British women who have admired her in the 1950s, 1960s and the 1990s. Examines the historical specificity of discourses of feminity circulating around Hepburn and her female fans, suggesting that the flexibility of Hepburn's image has contributed to her enduring appeal. Makes a significant contribution to the growing field of star studies. Argues that class and gender are siginifcant factors in the relatonship between stars and audiences.

List of figuresAcknowledgementsIntroduction1. On the subject of Film Studies: Class, gender and the female spectatorClass, gender and 'resistance'Discourse and subjectivity2. Audrey Hepburn: A woman's star'She's a phoney, but she's a real phoney': Construction, transparency and authenticity'Once upon a time...': Fairy-tales, fashion and femininityFashion: A gendered attractionist aesthetic'Can't do it without make-up' : Natural, democratic beautyClever, not sexy: Hepburn and 'the Mammary Woman'3. Dress and subjectivity: Remembering AudreyDress and desire: The articulation of self through styleGrowing up with Audrey: Dress and subjectivityStyle, 'the look' and 'being a girl' in the 1950s and 1960sTalking about Audrey'Oh please God - let it happen to me!'Text and audience: Resonance and address4. Doing the Hepburn lookDifferenceBeing a girlClassy, not sexyNegotiating the social: Growing up, looking 'nice', wearing black'She was everything. And it was all within reach, if you like'5. Audrey's Cinderellas: Dress and status in the 1950s and 1960s'You shall go to the ball...'Love, marriage and the domestic'I admit I came to Paris to escape American Provincial, but that doesn't mean I'm ready for French Traditional!''I'm a respectable girl, so I am...'6. Audrey Hepburn, nostalgia and post-feminism in the 1990sMothers and daughters'She's a real phoney' (Part Two)Nostalgia and escape from the post-modernDressing upHaving it allConclusionAppendix I - The main interviewsGlossary of symbolsThe intervieweesInterview questionsAppendix II - Extended interview extracts (Chapter 4)References and further readingFilmography