Ava Gardner is a truly inspiring woman!
I became intrigued with her after watching her biography on E! And immediately was captured with her beauty, her ability as an actress and her fiery personality. As a fashion icon she was like no other of her time, with a stunning hour glass figure, creamy skin and thick wavy hair she truly was a natural beauty. She contributed her flawless complexion to her Irish and Scottish heritage and always took care to cover up in the sun. Her beauty captured Hollywood and the worlds leading men such as mickey Rooney (husband #1) and frank Sinatra (hubby #3) who was her true love. There was always whispers towards her close relationship with the aviator Howard Hughes but she always denied this, despite his many proposals and said that he always stank of BO. So being a multi-millionaire can't buy personal hygiene?
After reading her autobiography I became even more in love with her as she led such an interesting life, and for quite a conservative society of the 1940's/1950's she broke out of the societal norms and was a true hell raiser with her drinking, smoking, swearing, the men and generally not given a damn about what anybody thought of her. Living in Spain with the one and only Ernest Hemingway led to her love for the bull fights, dancing and matadors who she had many affairs with.
She was never the 'darling' of Hollywood as she refused to live up to the squeaky clean persona that was expected of her and her contract of MGM, in fact once that contract was over she felt that was the only time she could truly flourish as an actress instead of playing the traditional femme fatal role. This period in her life she lived the way she wanted without rules and people watching her, and famously turned down the part to play Mrs. Robinson in the legendary film 'The Graduate' that would have cemented her place in cinematic history, but its a decision she never regretted.
A long time friend of Grace Kelly she was present at her wedding to the Prince of Monaco and these two women were defining the most stylish of her time. Her Spanish influence definitely shows throughout her fashion choices, although she was never too fussed on her appearance choosing not to wear make up or shoes whenever she could. Dior, Balenciaga, Chanel all the leading couture fashion houses loved to dress her for her fabulous figure. In her hometown of North Carolina there is an Ava Gardner musuem dedicated to her with some of her iconic outfits on show, this is something I need to see in my lifetime!
She is immortalised however, the famous song written by Frank Sinatra 'Im a fool to love you' was written for her to explain their passionate and tumultuous marriage, that ended in heartbreak.
Personally, I dont like to mimic stars for the simple fact that I like to have my own personal style but her classic glamour, jewels, wavey hair and make up has inspired stars after her such as Lana Del Rey today (another fashion love) and her personality has been likened to the infamous Samantha Jones due to being an independent woman who never depended on anybody but herself to get where she wanted in live. These are the type of women that I adore and look up to, they may not be traditional role models but they are the most realistic in the sense that they make mistakes and learn from them but never allow them to hold them back, it helps shapes them and this is what I find truly inspiring. Young stars today are awashed with publicity staff, PR people who have their conversations carefully planned out and in a world that is too concious of being politically correct, these sort of women are truly inspiring.
What do you think?
Niamh x
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