Abstract
Abstract Glamour is seldom defined as an inward disposition. However, the inward constituents of glamour contain the key to its lasting allure. Audrey Hepburn is held to be a paragon of glamour yet she continually disrupts glamour’s tendency towards static, idealized forms. In Funny Face (Donen, 1957) she plays an inquisitive woman unfazed by ‘fashion magazines’, endorsing ‘self-impressions’ and hence an introspective mode of evaluation. Repeatedly, Hepburn’s characters give glamour a parodic edge. We are led towards a mode of glamour defined by how it is lived and how it regards itself. The significance of this is brought into sharp contrast by comparison with the glamour exhibited by Art Deco artist Tamara de Lempicka. In 1966 Audrey Hepburn and Tamara de Lempicka graced the museums of Paris – Hepburn in William Wyler’s film, How to Steal a Million (1966), and de Lempicka in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs’s exhibition, which consecrated Art Deco style. The apparently antagonistic modes of glamour presented by Hepburn and de Lempicka, who was herself infatuated with Hollywood, highlight how glamour’s defining feature lies in how it is lived. The most significant gaze ultimately belongs to the subject itself rather than to the viewer.
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