Dear Friends, some women are handed a wardrobe, and Audrey Hepburn was handed a rack of leftovers. In the summer of 1953 a 26-year-old Hubert de Givenchy, expecting Katharine Hepburn, found a different Hepburn at his Paris atelier, one who was preparing Sabrina. He relented and let her try on the spring/summer 1953 samples still hanging about from the previous season. Eight films later, the two were a team. That is the lesson I keep coming back to: she did not need much, she needed the right few things.

 

So what can we borrow from her. Audrey Hepburn style is mostly restraint: a handful of clean shapes, worn again and again, until they read as hers. I have put together the pieces that carry it, and modern-day options for bringing the same quiet logic into your own closet (there is certainly more to uncover, but this is a good first chapter). I went deeper on a related idea in Retro Style: Dressing the Audrey Hepburn Way, From Full Skirts to Cat-Eyes.

 

Start the homework with the little black dress. The Breakfast at Tiffany's version was a boatneck satin sheath from Givenchy's fall 1960 couture collection, and the neckline matters most. Givenchy said she loved it because it hid her skinny collarbone and showed off her very good shoulders. For that line, I would look at the Donna Karan New York sheath with its clean seaming, the Theory sleeveless boat neck mini dress in stretch wool, and the Black Halo Marissa with its short sleeves and back slit. The Karl Lagerfeld Paris scuba crepe sheath is the one for a workday, and the Karl Lagerfeld Paris faux pearl trim sheath is for an evening that needs a little polish. Black Halo's Kashton adds princess seams and a godet hem, while Sold Out NYC's Soire is the mock-neck knit for colder October nights.

 

My tip: stand sideways in the mirror. If the seam follows your waist and the neckline sits wide across the shoulders, you have the right shape.

Givenchy's boat neckline was not only for evening. Vogue UK describes two white-shirt moods for her: a fitted blouse, often tied at the waist as in Sabrina, and an oversized white men's shirt worn with bare legs. Both ideas are easy to shop right now, and neither needs anything fancy.

 

For the fitted mood, I would reach for the Theory cutaway collared button-up, which has a crisp collar and long sleeves, or the Theory pima cotton shirt with its point collar. The rag & bone Lucia has three-quarter sleeves and a semi-sheer cotton poplin, so it works nicely tied at the waist over a skirt. For the looser idea, the James Perse short-sleeve poplin shirt, with flap pockets, is the one I would wear open over bare legs on a sunny weekend.

 

Then there is the neckline that carried her through Sabrina. The Enza Costa silk knit boat neck, the Reformation Eternity knit top and the Vince ribbed slash neck shirt in black all give you that wide, shoulder-skimming opening. Leset's white pointelle bateau has scalloped trim, which feels sweet next to all the black.

 

(A small aside: the black knits here sit happily next to the white shirts.)

 

Fitting test: hold your arms straight forward. If a poplin shirt pulls across the back, size up, because that crisp drape is the whole point. What I would skip: shirts so sheer that you need a camisole under them every single time, unless you already own the camisole.

Cropped trousers have a very specific photographic memory. In 1955 Norman Parkinson photographed Audrey in Italy, where she was shooting War and Peace, in gingham trousers, flats and a clean white top, and Vogue UK says she kept that look on rotation. In my fashion dreams she is leaning on a Roman wall in that exact outfit, and I want the black version for October.

 

So here are the narrow pants. The Whistles Lily is a black cigarette pant with a slim ankle-length leg, and rag & bone's Irina has a slim, tapered leg. The Róhe pair, in mid-weight suiting with pleated center seams and a hidden side zip, is my pick for a proper desk day. Rag & bone's Sutton is ponte, so it is the comfortable one, with pintuck accents. For denim people, Citizens of Humanity's Savannah is a black cigarette jean in mid-weight cotton with a button fly. T Tahari's ankle straight-leg pants, slim with a tailored straight leg, sit in the same family.

 

The capris are the weekend answer. With Jéan's Arden has a drawstring waist and a relaxed fit, and Leset's Rio is super-stretch jersey with an elastic waistband, made in the USA. Think flats, a white shirt, and a cropped hem that shows your ankle bone.

 

Test: sit down in the fitting room. If the hem rides up past the ankle bone when you sit, it is too short for a cigarette leg. What I would skip: a drawstring capri for the office, because it is a lovely weekend idea, and it stays that way.

No shoe is more tied to Audrey than the ballet flat, according to Vogue UK, and it makes sense for a woman who said her first dream was to be a ballet dancer. Salvatore Ferragamo made her Ballerina shoe in 1954, with a suede upper, a kidskin strip, a low oval heel and a patent shell-shaped sole. Every flat in this group is a cousin of that idea.

 

Think of Jo Stockton dancing through a Paris cellar in Funny Face, in black polo neck, black trousers and black penny loafers. That is where the loafers come in, and it is why I would never file them under menswear. The G.H. Bass Whitney Weejuns come in black box leather with a penny strap, the rag & bone Carter has a calfskin upper with a leather sole and rubber heel cap, and Vince's Siena has a cushioned footbed. Wear any of them with the cigarette pants above and a white shirt.

 

For the ballet side, I would start with the Tory Burch cap toe flat, in goatskin with a patent toecap and a fixed bow. Tony Bianco's Comma has a small bow at the vamp, and Sam Edelman's Alie keeps the bow dainty in bright white. Stuart Weitzman's Lenny is black suede with a soft elastic topline, and Madewell's Freja is a glove-soft leather with a pull-tab at the heel.

 

Fitting test: walk across the room and listen for the heel slipping. A flat should hold the back of your foot without any gripping.

 

What I would skip: flats with a very thin, flexible sole for a day of walking, because they are lovely and nothing else.

Audrey's accessories were small and repeatable, and the finishing touches here are where the lesson becomes personal. Oliver Goldsmith made her sunglasses, and the V&A says she wore its Manhattan frame in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). If you want a big, dark frame, the Saint Laurent cateye and the Gucci 52mm cat eye in black both keep that shape. The Tom Ford Meryl is oversized and round in tortoiseshell with gradient brown lenses, for a softer take.

 

Pearls are the next chapter. The dress I mentioned earlier had a cutout back designed to serve as a bed for Holly Golightly's standout pearl necklace, which tells you how much a single strand can do. I would take the strand of white cultured freshwater pearls with its 14k gold clasp, or Tory Burch's Moondance, a single strand in cream with a gold-tone charm. Zoe Chicco's 6mm freshwater studs in 14k gold are the small, everyday version.

 

And the headscarf. Vogue UK says she often knotted a silk scarf over her beehive, with a micro-fringe peeking out, and headscarves show up in Funny Face, Breakfast at Tiffany's and Charade. The LIBERTY scarf is a lightweight silk satin in a cream floral, and the Nili Lotan polka dot is silk crepe with a brown and navy border. Both are made in Italy.

 

Test: knot the scarf over a dry ponytail, then check the knot after a walk outside. Silk crepe grips better than satin.

 

What I would skip: wearing the pearls, the scarf and the sunglasses all at once, which is costume, and nobody asked for costume.

If I were starting from nothing, I would go in this order: the black dress, the white shirt, the narrow pants, a flat, and one accessory. That is not a list for a magazine. It is how her wardrobe was built, by someone who knew what she liked.

 

Audrey Hepburn style began with a rack of leftover samples and a woman who knew exactly what suited her. Years later she carried that clarity into her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, appointed in 1988, with her first mission in famine-struck Ethiopia.

 

Take your own leftovers, then, and edit them down. Fewer things, worn better, with love, and a good hem.