first looks

First Look: Katharine Hepburn: Rebel Chic

Photo: KSUM Collection

Katharine Hepburn didn’t intend to change the face of American fashion; she just didn’t like wearing skirts. In a quote from Katharine Hepburn: Rebel Chic, a collection of essays by Jean Druesedow, Barbara Cohen-Stratyner, Nancy NacDonell, Judy Samelson, and Kohle Yohannan, Hepburn explained, “Any time I hear a man say he prefers a woman in a skirt, I say, ‘Try one. Try a skirt.’” And she meant it — when RKO Pictures execs hid her jeans, she threatened to walk around the studio’s lot naked, taking off everything except for her silk underwear before reclaiming her pants. “Anti-fashion,” “unapologetically casual,” “androgynous,” and “deceptively simple” are some of the ways Hepburn’s style is described in the Rizzoli-published book, which features both well-known and never-before-seen images. Click ahead for a preview of the tome, on sale tomorrow.

Photo: Courtesy of the Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s

1932

Publicity image

Photo: Judy Samelson Collection

Circa 1932

Katharine Hepburn wearing dungarees on the RKO lot.

Photo: KSUM Collection

1933

Adolph Menjou and Katharine Hepburn in Morning Glory.

Photo: KSUM Collection

1934

Katharine Hepburn as Babbie in The Little Minister.  

Photo: KSUM Collection

1956

Publicity still from The Iron Petticot.

Photo: Judy Samelson Collection

1967

Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn on the set of Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner.

Photo: KSUM Collection

Circa 1968

Katharine Hepburn at a window

Photo: KSUM Collection

1969-1970

Souvenir program for Coco.

Photo: KSUM Collection

1969-1970

Katharine Hepburn as Coco Chanel in Coco.