Audrey Hepburn is a style muse in any season, but it was in the warmer months when her wardrobe really came alive. The grace notes were everywhere—in the oversized sunglasses she wore on holiday in Antibes; the wide-brimmed (and often boldly shaped) straw hats she put on for boat rides. While filming Roman Holiday in Rome, she enjoyed gelato with Gregory Peck in a cinched-waist skirt, whereas during her leisure time with husband Mel Ferrer, she often sported gingham capris.
Many of these transporting snapshots were taken at the famed Bürgenstock Resort in Lucerne, Switzerland. The Oscar-winning actor married Ferrer at the resort’s chapel in 1954 and proceeded to live at Villa Bethania, a house on the estate. In her later years, she moved to the Swiss town of Tolochenaz, where she resided in an 18th-century farmhouse named La Paisible that Vogue photographed for our 1961 issue. When she wasn’t on set or doing press in Hollywood, it seems, she was playing golf, gardening, and enjoying the idyllic Swiss Alps.
Below, in honor of Hepburn’s birthday, on May 4—a time when spring is looking hopefully ahead to summer—see 16 photos of Audrey Hepburn in her summertime best.
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Photo: Getty Images
Sunbathing with her fellow chorus girls from Petite Sauce Tartare, 1949.
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Photo: Getty Images
Showing off her dancer’s legs in checks and short shorts, c. 1950s.
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Funny Face, circa 1955.”,”contentType”:”photo”,”credit”:”Photo: Getty Images”,”segmentedSources”:{“sm”:[{“height”:400,”width”:320,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/688a3c87b3643a2c1099359e/master/w_320,c_limit/153477991″},{“height”:800,”width”:640,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/688a3c87b3643a2c1099359e/master/w_640,c_limit/153477991″}],”md”:[{“height”:800,”width”:640,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/688a3c87b3643a2c1099359e/master/w_640,c_limit/153477991″},{“height”:1600,”width”:1280,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/688a3c87b3643a2c1099359e/master/w_1280,c_limit/153477991″}],”lg”:[{“height”:1280,”width”:1024,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/688a3c87b3643a2c1099359e/master/w_1024,c_limit/153477991″},{“height”:2560,”width”:2048,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/688a3c87b3643a2c1099359e/master/w_2048,c_limit/153477991″}],”xl”:[{“height”:1600,”width”:1280,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/688a3c87b3643a2c1099359e/master/w_1280,c_limit/153477991″}],”xxl”:[{“height”:1600,”width”:1280,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/688a3c87b3643a2c1099359e/master/w_1280,c_limit/153477991″}]}}}” data-testid=”GallerySlideWrapper”>
Photo: Getty Images
Hepburn in a floral-print day dress and sun hat on the set of Funny Face, circa 1955.
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Photo: Getty Images
Poolside in a sunhat and sleeveless blouse in the early 1950s.
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Photo: Getty Images
Ploughing a vineyard in Italy with her first husband, Mel Ferrer, in 1955.
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Photo: Getty Images
With Ferrer at the Bel Air Hotel in 1957.
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Photo: Getty Images
Cruising the Seine in 1962.
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Photo: Getty Images
In a sleeveless gingham top, breezy white skirt, and straw hat during a visit to the Congo, 1958.
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Paris When It Sizzles in 1962.”,”contentType”:”photo”,”credit”:”Photo: Getty Images”,”segmentedSources”:{“sm”:[{“height”:320,”width”:320,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/69f64e198b1c6f295f1cbdfc/master/w_320,c_limit/1530482632″},{“height”:640,”width”:640,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/69f64e198b1c6f295f1cbdfc/master/w_640,c_limit/1530482632″}],”md”:[{“height”:640,”width”:640,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/69f64e198b1c6f295f1cbdfc/master/w_640,c_limit/1530482632″},{“height”:1279,”width”:1280,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/69f64e198b1c6f295f1cbdfc/master/w_1280,c_limit/1530482632″}],”lg”:[{“height”:1023,”width”:1024,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/69f64e198b1c6f295f1cbdfc/master/w_1024,c_limit/1530482632″},{“height”:2047,”width”:2048,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/69f64e198b1c6f295f1cbdfc/master/w_2048,c_limit/1530482632″}],”xl”:[{“height”:1279,”width”:1280,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/69f64e198b1c6f295f1cbdfc/master/w_1280,c_limit/1530482632″}],”xxl”:[{“height”:1279,”width”:1280,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/69f64e198b1c6f295f1cbdfc/master/w_1280,c_limit/1530482632″}]}}}” data-testid=”GallerySlideWrapper”>
Photo: Getty Images
Shooting Paris When It Sizzles in 1962.
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Photo: Getty Images
In a pleated white sundress and bare feet at Bürgenstock Resort, 1954.
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Photo: Getty Images
Hepburn, with a blue kerchief around her head, reclines on cushions in a grassy field with one of her two black spaniels.
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Photo: Getty Images
Visiting Antibes in the 1960s.
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Photo: Getty Images
In a kicky, blush-pink shift dress for a visit to a horse farm in Toledo, Spain, 1965.
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Photo: Getty Images
Posing by the sea in a black tee (and a jaunty pixie cut) in 1967.
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Photo: Getty Images
On the back of a motorboat on a lake in Switzerland, early 1950s.
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Vogue, April 1961″,”segmentedSources”:{“sm”:[{“height”:330,”width”:320,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/688b793380305e34f150371a/master/w_320,c_limit/CN00044072.png”},{“height”:660,”width”:640,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/688b793380305e34f150371a/master/w_640,c_limit/CN00044072.png”}],”md”:[{“height”:660,”width”:640,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/688b793380305e34f150371a/master/w_640,c_limit/CN00044072.png”},{“height”:1321,”width”:1280,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/688b793380305e34f150371a/master/w_1280,c_limit/CN00044072.png”}],”lg”:[{“height”:1057,”width”:1024,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/688b793380305e34f150371a/master/w_1024,c_limit/CN00044072.png”},{“height”:2113,”width”:2048,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/688b793380305e34f150371a/master/w_2048,c_limit/CN00044072.png”}],”xl”:[{“height”:1321,”width”:1280,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/688b793380305e34f150371a/master/w_1280,c_limit/CN00044072.png”}],”xxl”:[{“height”:1321,”width”:1280,”url”:”https://assets.vogue.com/photos/688b793380305e34f150371a/master/w_1280,c_limit/CN00044072.png”}]}}}” data-testid=”GallerySlideWrapper”>
Photographed by Henry Clarke, Vogue, April 1961
A corner of the garden at actress Audrey Hepburn’s residence La Paisible, in Tolochenaz, Switzerland. By a lavender bush, a luncheon table covered in flower-patterned cloth.
