Customer Reviews

Audrey Style

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Audrey Style is a stylish, attractive coffee table book. However, it's just that: a coffee table book, best enjoyed by keeping it around (preferably on a coffee table), thumbing through the pictures every so often, and merely skimming the text in a couple of places.

The pictures, of course, are great. After all, they're pictures of Audrey Hepburn! There's an enormous amount of pictures of her at various points in her career, and most of them truly seem to capture the grace, sophistication, and effortless style inherent in Audrey (and apparently missing in the world today.)

The actual writing, though -- the "book" part -- falls short. It's a good read, and you'll learn a thing or two about Audrey, but nowhere is it genuinely insightful or analytical. The book is peppered with anecdotes that will make you think "Oh, how nice!" or "Oh, how funny!" ...but I'd like to think that there was more to Audrey than that.

Too often, the book goes for unneccessary glorification. Every so often, you'll come across a quotation such as this:

"Audrey Hepburn was really great. She was nice and beautiful and stylish and everybody wanted to be like her. There can be no one else like her." -- Someone From Hollywood

Audrey Style is adorned with this sort of fluffy adoration, and even if the praise is due, it gets a little stale after being repeated so often.

I'm also a little disappointed that a book titled "Audrey Style" is more of a biography than an analysis of her style; although the "style" part is present, I would have liked to see much more.

To sum up: it's a good book, but it isn't that profound. The pictures make it worth buying, however; buy it for the pictures, keep it on your coffee table, and be dazzled by the glory that is Audrey. Just don't expect the words to capture her essence nearly so well.

The text is very original and inspiring because for the first time it describes Audrey as more than a legendary film star and a physical beauty, and focuses on her personality and her own life's philosophy that any human being can achieve. One should remember that what made her an enduring star and a legend (#3 in AFI's film legends) was her winning personality and wit. Audrey stands for the premise that what counts is the inner beauty regardless of the physical make-up that one is born with. To this effect, there are a lot of pretty faces that do not even show in the charm department. What really counts is the enduring charm that anybody can develop as a good spirited human being. In the charm department, one's effort to attain sophistication in earnest can make up for whatever the physical appearance.

The single picture that I would like to remark is on page 12: when Audrey's gorgeous energy and infectious smile are captured with a huge jump in the air.

I also recommend the book "ADIEU AUDREY". It has the best qulity pictures I have ever seen, in a thick quality paper, and in sepia tint that will satisfy to any photography buff.

Some of the reviewers in this category certainly seem to have missed the title of this book: Audrey STYLE. This is the reason I bought it- to learn more about Audrey Hepburn's beautiful sense of style. Imagine my surprise at finding that it did not only discuss her fashion sense, but her wonderful personality as well! I was hoping this wouldn't be a run-of-the-mill biography, and it wasn't. Obviously if you want to read a heavy, thorough biography, this is NOT the book for you. However, if you want to read a light-hearted, stylish, and inspiring tribute to one of the greatest actresses and style icons of our time, then I highly recommend you read this book.

This is a very attractive coffee table book to own, and one you are sure to enjoy thumbing through time after time. It also goes into more detail on Audrey's style and wardrobe than most other accounts. However, the book was a little disappointing on a few fronts. A main feature of this volume is its numerous photos, yet frustratingly, all the photo captions are in the back, all are very terse, and many contain no dates or identifications. The introduction by Givenchy is elegant but very brief, so one should not expect a long and descriptive essay. And while I enjoyed reading the text and learned a number of things from it, I found it seemed to create a rather too idealized picture of a very complex person, and to be repetative in its descriptions (how many times is the word 'gamine' used?). At times I also sensed the author chose to interpret things in an overly romantic way to further this image--for example citing Audrey's inability to eat during times of stress as her reverting to her girlhood days in war-ravaged Holland when she had to do with little or no food. By all accounts, Audrey was an incredible human being, but I recommend reading this book along with other accounts of her life to obtain a more balanced description.

Forget about the monthly fashion magazines that grace the bookstore shelves and which become dated within a few weeks. If you want to learn true style and eternal beauty, THIS IS THE BOOK. Yes, I have been an Audrey Hepburn fan since I was seven, but regardless of one's feelings about her, anyone can learn a thing or three from this book about how to live life in a way that reflects the simple beauty within each of us. The book is rich in insight regarding Audrey Hepburn's life and philosophy, which influenced her style tremendously. Ms. Keogh doesn't set out to tell us how to BE Audrey Hepburn, since of course that would be impossible as there could never be another one like her again. Rather, she tells us how she developed and found her style, and how we too can find our very own, in the true spirit of Audrey Hepburn.

If they reprinted this without any words, it would get 5 stars.

Random examples of the writing:

"'Oh, they were fated to meet,' says Connie, curiously choosing the exact same words used to describe Audrey's friendship with Givenchy." (Like OMG! Someone said Audrey was _fated_ to meet Givenchy! And someone else said she was _fated_ to meet another person!)

"... she intones with the well-bred vowels of a Farmington girl, with some of her old boss, Diana Vreeland, thrown in for emphasis."

Pamela Clarke Keogh comes off like an untalented high school student in a creative writing class. You know the sort, under the impression that bludgeoning the reader with random vignettes and a morass of clauses is "descriptive."

And don't get me started on the over-the-top hagiographic nature of this book. Look, I love Audrey as much as the next person. Probably more. But how many quotes like "and she couldn't have been sweeter! So gracious! Beyond gracious! Heavenly!" do we need? There's such a thing as praising so much it becomes meaningless.

This book is great for any Audrey Hepburn fan. It has an abundance of pictures of her throughout her life and in the back of the book the source of each photo. I was also impressed with biographical content. I really was not expecting much from the content but it was fun to read, recapturing moments from her movies, anecdotes of those who knew her, and more. However, if you are looking for a straight biography of Audrey Hepburn I would recommend Barry Paris' Audrey Hepburn book. This book is for those who, as the title implies, love the style of Audrey Hepburn. If you adore her clothes or her make up, and are interested in further appreciating that side of Audrey then buy this book. If you are simply interested in fashion of the 50s and 60s you may also want to look into this. And if you love Audrey Hepburn do not hesitate to look at this book.

This book is an insult to the memory of Audrey Hepburn. Rather than portray her as a human being, Pamela Clarke Keogh has turned her into a saintly angel, competely faultless.

And with the title this book has, one would expect something about Hepburn's much beloved and timeless style--IT IS JUST A POPCORN BIOGRAPHY. Not very many pictures and really just a "Audrey is sooooo perfect, flawless, etc" repetition which is basically the book.

If you want a great biography on Audrey, read the Barry Paris book, and not this cheap tribute. It doesn't satisfy for the cost of the book. Even the photos don't make it worth buying--because they are so few in number, and really aren't all that standout (except the 5-7 photos from her film career.) This book doesn't even show her Oscar gowns, or her wedding photos, nothing. This woman--a revered style icon--and just a scant few photos.

In conclusion, it's a .... It has the title to make one think it all about her style on and off film, and its not--just a cheap biography. Its a ...because the book is expensive--and all you get is the author letting us in on her insecurities about not being Audrey Hepburn, and how no other person in the world--before or after Audrey--gave so much back to the world as Audrey.

I love Audrey, but I don't need some writer to tell me how much I should like her, and how I should ignore all Audrey's faults--just because the author can't get over the fact that Audrey was a human being like the rest of us.

It's putting the quirky details together that makes this book more revealing than the standard saccharin drenched puff piece.

For example, Hepburn is quoted as saying that she wears a size 8 1/2 shoe, while the author clearly states later in the book that Hepburn wore a size ten.

Her mother's quotes, if accurate, provide convincing evidence that the Baroness Von Heemstra was more than a little jealous of her far more beautiful daughter.

The author's claim that Audrey "didn't eat during times of stress" directly contradicts close friends Audrey Wilder and Doris Brynner, who claimed that Hepburn loved to eat. As for her staying so thin due to malnutrition that "permanently altered her metabolism", this is unlikely. According to the author, Hepburn speaks of gaining twenty pounds early in her career. Other bios confirm this. Perhaps in later years Hepburn simply watched what she ate.

According to the author, Hepburn washed her hair every four or five days. She SMOKED. Whew, draw your OWN conclusions about that one!

I've found Robert Wolders a bit creepy ever since I read about him in "Queenie", a superb biography of Merle Oberon. From Merle to Audrey to Shirlee Fonda; this guy clearly has a THING for wealthy, older glamour girls. He's always described as an actor/businessman. Hmmmmmmm.

An additional strength of this book is its focus on her personal fashion philosophy--not just her association with Givenchy.

Audrey Hepburn is my absolute favorite and always will be. She had many lessons to teach; not only about beauty and elegance, but also about tolerance, grace and kindness. No star of today can compare.

PS-I'm just tucking into the Barry Paris book, which is FAR more in depth. I recommend following Audrey Style with this one if you haven't already read it.

Visually perfect, inspirational, so moving it made me cry, this book is the most exquisite thing to look at, and one of the most entertaining and yet spiritually profound reads. Highest reccomendations, and a suggestion: Buy extras, you will end up "loaning" your copy away. You can never have too many of this book.