Monday, Apr. 02, 2012
Brigitte Bardot
In 1970, sculptor Alain Gourdon used French actress Brigitte Bardot as the model for a bust of Marianne — the symbol of France — and four years later Andy Warhol captured her in an iconic pop art portrait. But Bardot — a curvaceous blonde with a kittenish grin — wasn't merely a muse: she was also a trendsetter. She helped popularize the bikini by wearing two-pieces in films like Manina, the Girl in the Bikini (1952). She's also credited with sparking the trend of knitwear with a wide neck that exposes both shoulders — the so-called "Bardot neckline." A former ballet dancer, she once asked designer Rose Repetto to make shoes as light as her dance slippers. Voilà: the everyday ballerina flat was born.