Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis continue to set the standard.

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(Free-Press-Release.com) December 14, 2006 -- In an age when the word is grossly overused, they remain, incontrovertibly, icons: elegance embodied, high fashion at the dawn of the television era, with charmed lives and striking beauty.

Celebrities fuel fashion -- that comes as no surprise.

Instead, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis continue to set the standard. Their names are shorthand for the looks that are at the root of modern style many years after their respective deaths.

The patrician style of Main Line Philadelphia is defined by Grace. One of the world's most coveted handbags -- the Hermes Kelly bag -- is named for her, and that two-handled satchel has become a symbol of understated, ladylike luxury.

When Jackie was a Kennedy, she popularized the pillbox hat and skirt suits. When she was an Onassis, it was the glamorous oversized dark sunglasses worn with yacht-appropriate attire.

The pearls and black dress that so many women use as their cocktail party uniform, that's all Audrey. The Givenchy black dress that she wore in ''Breakfast at Tiffany's,'' a simple sleeveless sheath, was sold last week at Christie's in London for a shocking $807,000, almost six times the highest pre-sale estimate. It was in ''Breakfast at Tiffany's'' that Hepburn also wore the black plastic Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses, ushering in a new look of eyewear that had largely relied on thin metallic frames until then.

''Audrey had a timeless quality,'' said Avril Graham, executive fashion editor at Harper's Bazaar, which recreated Audrey's look -- pearls and all -- on young actress Natalie Portman for a recent cover. ''Anyone could wear that black dress now. It doesn't seem to be dated in any way.''

Hepburn, Kelly and Kennedy oozed good taste. They were dressed like fashion plates day and night. They were well-groomed and never flashy or trashy, preferring to be consistently chic and sophisticated.

Though their heyday was the mid-1950s through the '60s, they continue to serve as inspiration to today's designers.
Here's how Graham defines the style of Audrey, Grace and Jackie:

Source: http://www.yahoo.com
POSTED BY SAMANTHA CRITCHELL