Elizabeth Taylor: Fashion Icon
Elizabeth Taylor will be remembered as many things - silver screen legend, eternal romantic, beauty queen - but for us, it's her fashion icon status that is simply legendary. As the world mourns the star, who died on 23rd March 2011, aged 79, we recount her most stunning looks
Rex FeaturesElizabeth Taylor fast became a silver screen siren and style icon thanks to her covetable curves and picture perfect smile that captured international audiences. Snapped here in 1948 sporting a classic bathing suit, it’s easy to see why her beauty redefined the classic Hollywood aesthetic.
Rex FeaturesOnly Elizabeth could make fish-net tights, a polo neck top and heavy lashings of eyeliner look understatedly chic. Reading the paper never looked so glamorous!
Rex FeaturesSporting the Christian Dior new look - nipped in waists and full skirts - Elizabeth Taylor epitomised elegance with the help of feminine tailoring. Famously known for her love of high octane jewellery, the star was seldom seen without decorous diamonds or pearls.
Rex FeaturesThe 1950s were all about celebrating the female Coke bottle figure - a full bust, slim waist and shapely hips - thanks to stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe. Making the most of her assets, the star furnished her wardrobe with figure-hugging halter neck dresses and slinky waist-belts as her movie roles became increasingly sassy.
Rex FeaturesFilm stills from Giant in 1956 saw Elizabeth Taylor sporting timelessly glamorous red lippy and her signature alluring eyeliner against a paper white ensemble that made the star’s dramatic look stand-out. Cue hordes of copy-cats experimenting with liquid eyeliner!
Rex FeaturesIn her prime, Elizabeth was considered one of the most beautiful women in the world, and looking at this film still of her smouldering in silken lingerie in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (1958), it’s not hard to see why.
PA PhotosThis flattering striped swim suit and cover-up, which Elizabeth wore on her way to the beach in 1959, is still one of the most copied looks around.
Rex FeaturesElizabeth Taylor gave a masterclass in how to work what you to your advantage in the curve-enhancing white swim suit.
Rex FeaturesThis scene Elizabeth shot for her Oscar-winning role in Butterfield 8 (1960) might have been in the bedroom, but it's stills like this that showed the world how versatile and glamorous a slip can be.
Rex FeaturesWho can forget Elizabeth Taylor’s iconic yellow and floral Oscar-winning gown? Complete with beehive, of course.
Rex FeaturesThe actress wore this stunning headdress and bejewelled cloak in the iconic 1963 movie, Cleopatra.
Rex FeaturesElizabeth Taylor chose to shun white on her (first) wedding day with Richard Taylor. Instead she went for an ethereal look with daisies in her hair and a flowing Sixties canary yellow gown.
Rex FeaturesFew could carry off glamour the way Elizabeth Taylor did. Here she is in her 1968 film, Boom, bedecked in diamonds and expensive fabrics.
Rex FeaturesElizabeth Taylor embraced the Seventies with retro prints, bright colours and flares.
Rex FeaturesChannelling her most iconic role, as Cleopatra, Elizabeth Taylor wore a dramatic headdress and embellished empire-line gown while at a 1975 party with husband Richard Burton.
Rex FeaturesTaylor added a dose of her trademark glamour to the flowing lines and natural beauty, championed by the 70s. This 1978 shot shows her wearing a white maxi dress accessorised to the hit with jewels, including a diamond tiara.
Rex FeaturesThe trends of the 80s – big hair, big shoulders and lots of cleavage – were pure Elizabeth Taylor. Everything about her in this candid shot from 1982 is larger than life.
PA PhotosPushing the boat out in Cannes. Elizabeth Taylor, escorted by George Hamilton, arrived at the official gala for the 1987 Film Festival, wearing a show-stopping red gown embellished with an oversized corsage.
Rex FeaturesVa-va-voom! No matter how much time passed, Elizabeth Taylor never lost touch with the raw femininity that made her a star. In 1988 she attended a party wearing this purple satin dress with exaggerated shoulders – and an even more exaggerated cleavage.
Rex FeaturesIn one of her later public appearances, Taylor donned a silver evening coat to attend the CFDA Awards in New York. She may no longer have been squeezing into boob-flashing dresses or battling the grey hair, but her fighting spirit is there, in those amazing chandelier earrings and immaculate make-up. The world has lost a true fashion icon. Elizabeth Taylor, you will be remembered.
