News of Lauren Bacall’s death sparked an outpouring of grief, not only because she was a screen legend but also because it marked the end of a style icon who was all about perfect eyebrows and crisp tailoring.
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However, while she will be remembered for her husky voice, whistling ability and steamy chemistry with her co-star turned husband Humphrey Bogart ,it was her turn in a fashion magazine that started her star's ascent to Hollywood.
The willowy blonde was discovered in the 1940s by Harpers Bazaar columnist Diana Vreeland, the same woman who advised Jacqueline Kennedy and was an early champion of Manolo Blahnik, Oscar de la Renta and Diane von Furstenberg. At 19, Bacall was photographed for the a 1943 cover wearing a suit, a cloche hat and gloves standing outside a Red Cross blood donor clinic. It was a revolutionary move, considering the look of the time was all about miniscule waistlines and curvaceous hips.
''I was this flat-chested, big-footed, lanky thing,'' Bacall said.
It was her turn as a cover girl which caught the attention of director Howard Hawks’ wife, Nancy. The power couple took the young New Yorker under their wing and taught her how to dress and talk. She was then cast in her first role in Hawks’ To Have and Have Not alongside Bogart.
Rarely seen without a cigarette in hand or a hair out of place, Bacall is still renowned as one of the style greats from the film noir era. While her counterparts, the two Hepburns – Katherine and Audrey – kept their respective masculine and feminine looks consistent, Bacall played with silhouettes and bold prints for the time.
Bogart was 25 years her senior. After they married in 1947, Bacall dressed with an air of maturity. She was wearing sharp suits, heavily structured dresses and tailored looks all before her 21st birthday.
Her favourites included suits from Christian Dior’s ‘'New Look'’ collection and from Halston.
In 1975 she was introduced to British designer Zandra Rhodes, who went on to design costumes for Freddie Mercury and the royal family, including Princess Diana.
''Halston arranged for Lauren Bacall to come to my attic studio in Bayswater in 1975 to fit a dress. Suddenly she let out a horrible scream! She had stepped on a pin! I still remember this to this day her crying ouch! Ouch! And me extricating the pin! But she looked wonderful in the dusty rose butterfly dress I made for her,'' Rhodes told Vogue.
