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hepburn inspired but not by beauty
WHAT I’M WEARING: OASIS BLACK PENNY STRAP JUMPSUIT, OASIS D’ORSAY POINTED FLATS & OASIS SUZIE LOCK BAG
makeup i’m wearing: bobbi brown intensive skin serum foundation in natural, bobbi brown bronzing powder in golden light, bobbi brown nude matte lipstick in sandwash pink, mac lipliner in spice, sleek makeup highlighting palette in precious metals
I’ve always loved Audrey Hepburn, I am even lucky enough to share her name. She’s iconic, you’d be hard pressed to find a woman unfamiliar with her. While she is undoubtedly esteemed, so many acclaimed Hepburn fans have not watched a single one of her movies nor know much about her as a person. Instead they zealously re-pin her portraits on Pinterest or regurgitate a handful of quotes that circle the internet at a nauseating speed. I feel like as an icon, she’s been diluted, washed away into nothing but a beautiful face. Beauty, I find becomes rather boring and I’m fed up with society squeezing everything down to this dull superficial level. And I hate that it happened to my namesake too. While we as women, intrinsically prefer to look pretty, there are so many other components to our existence that deserves equal or albeit more attention than our physical appearance. I often am criticized for voicing my views on the superficiality of the world because here I am wearing fancy clothes & a bronzer that cost more than my weekly grocery shopping. What right do I have to bring topics like this up, surely I, as a fashion blogger am just feeding the flame? Maybe I am, I hope not. I like clothes and I like to feel pretty but they are not my priorities. Anyone who knows me would agree. This is problematic for me here, because as a blogger, I have a voice and I want to speak up about the things in this world I feel need to be fixed and yet in doing so, I always feel the need to defend my views in the meek hope that despite the frivolity of what I do, I will still be taken seriously. So like I said, clothes, makeup, having your hair done these are lovely things, but I’m not vapid. I’m not just a photogenic girl prancing around online in dresses and such. I realize, so many fashion bloggers are – their brand revolves solely on one simple verb: shopping. But not mine. I guess we all, as women have to take a stance. The refusal to be boxed up and labelled as a specific type of female. So often it happens without notice, we are defined as something and that later becomes who we are. It makes me so sad. It makes me sad that so many Hepburn fans are so unaware of what she really was. Ignorant to so of the many wonderful facts that make her truly inspiring. Here a few things more beautiful than her face; she was an avid animal lover as well as a loner, preferring to be at home alone with her animals, she even at one point, adopted a pet deer. She worked for the Dutch resistance and volunteered as a nurse during WW2. She was an EGOT, one of the 14 individuals to win an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award. She was a mother to a son who later compiled a wonderful book about her. She was a dedicated UNICEF World Ambassador as well as being fluent in 5 languages. And yet to so many people she’s just a face on a canvas on a wall or thrown around as ‘beauty inspo’ on tumblr. So, what am I getting at here? A few things, I guess and I’ve approached them quite chaotically. First but foremost, go at it, aim to be pretty, buy the nice clothes but don’t let society convince you that this is all you are. There is so much more to strive for. Don’t let yourself be diluted. Break through that box – and the next time you find yourself being inspired by someone? Ask yourself why. What about them influences you? Should it solely be beauty, move away – or dig deeper. Always look past the looks. It’s way more fascinating underneath this skin of ours.
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