Audrey Hepburn still making headlines with her hats

She immortalised the little black dress and made pedal pushers and ballet pumps the height of casual sophistication, but if there is one Hollywood actress who really had a head for hats it was Audrey Hepburn.

The star of films such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Charade, Audrey was rarely photographed without one.

Now, the global style icon’s love affair with headwear is celebrated in a new book, Audrey Hepburn in Hats by June Marsh. With gorgeous images by some of the world’s most celebrated photographers, the book explains: “Hepburn and hats were a match made in heaven.” And to prove it, the tome shows her in many of her best-known poses – and some previously unseen images, including the book’s cover shot and Audrey in a straw hat with a green band. Reflecting on the rise of a star who shot to fame in Roman Holiday, the book examines how hats topped off her look in a host of films, dedicating a chapter to My Fair Lady and the stunning period costumes and headgear designed by Sir Cecil Beaton, which won him an Academy Award for costume design.

It also explores Audrey’s collaborations with designers such as Hubert Givenchy. The pair met on the set of Sabrina in 1953 and hit it off immediately, forming a close bond that was to last until her death, in 1993.

Audrey became Givenchy’s muse and he later famously declared: “There is not a woman alive who does not dream of looking like Audrey Hepburn.”

And well they might – she carried off so many styles with panache, stamping her individuality on each. As the star herself once said: “Why change? Everyone has their own style. When you have found it, you should stick to it.”