Brigitte Bardot's Fashion Influence

Brigitte Bardot’s influence on fashion is seeing renewed interest. The style icon, now almost 80, is an outspoken animal rights activist often criticized in the French press for her dubious political rants. But at the height of her career in the Fifties and Sixties, when she was often described as “the world’s most beautiful woman,” Bardot made the name of certain brands like Repetto and Seafarer.


Bardot’s look was unusual in the pristine celebrity circles she inhabited. She often walked around barefoot, wore miniskirts to the Elysée Palace and sparked many an imitation of her falsely messy blonde locks and black cat’s eye eyeliner. Walking the streets of the world’s capitals these last few years, it is impossible not to notice that such looks are prevalent again.

 

A line of Brigitte Bardot ready-to-wear also continues to make inroads at retail. The Brigitte Bardot Clothing Collection was launched two years ago after the actress sold the license to her name and image to investors. Despite the overwhelming array of unendorsed Bardot merchandise that is widely available, it was the first time she signed such a license.

The conditions for using the Bardot name include no use of fur or leather and respect for the aging star’s image.

“People have really stayed with the image of Brigitte Bardot in the Sixties, and not on her image today,” the brand’s creative director, Sarah Ohana, explained. “That is the image we portray, her beauty, the dream, her style, her look.”

Brigitte Bardot Clothing Collection is now distributed to some 450 sales points worldwide, with around half of these outside France, including a strong presence in Japan. In January, the brand’s advertising was displayed across newsstands during fashion week in Paris and featured in the magazine press.