Elizabeth Taylor: Styling Complexity with Confidence
Among Hollywood’s most cinematically iconic and socially provocative leading ladies, one stands out from the rest as an emblem of confident complexity, timeless beauty, enduring style, and perseverance: Dame Elizabeth (“Liz”) Rosemond Taylor DBE.
The one and only Elizabeth Taylor was an actress, a lover, a mother, and a fighter. Beyond the silver screen, Taylor’s influence crept into every realm of popular culture from fashion and fragrance to female empowerment, relatability, and body image through her many public successes, heartbreaks, struggles, and triumphs.
Pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick, and pull yourself together.
Elizabeth Taylor (1932 – 2011)
Elizabeth Taylor’s personal and professional wardrobe told the story of her magnetic boldness, individuality, subtle sensuality, timeless femininity, and confident complexity. Confident complexity is a person’s ability to acknowledge and embrace their imperfections while navigating the ups and downs in life with self-assurance. Elizabeth Taylor did this well and set the example for the rest of us.
In this article, we will dive into two distinct facets of Elizabeth Taylor’s confident complexity: her fearless boldness and self-expression showcased through her attention-grabbing asymmetrical necklines, and the balance between strategic revelation and modest elegance defining both her silhouette and enduring legacy.
1. Magnetic Boldness & Confident Individuality – Attention-Grabbing Asymmetrical Necklines
Confidence radiated from the very fabric of Elizabeth Taylor’s wardrobe, turning heads like a spotlight cutting through a darkened theatre. Taylor’s use of unique cuts and designs, specifically asymmetrical necklines, took an audacious departure from convention and disrupted expectations. Today, Taylor’s confidence not only acts as a testament to her strong-willed personality and her desire to persevere through challenges, heartbreaks, and hardship, but it also presents itself as an invitation to partake – i.e., a chance for us all to embrace asymmetry as both a means of highlighting our chosen features uniquely and boldly, as well as encourage others to engage in a critical and captivated examination of us. In other words, we must invite others to examine us in all our confident complexity to communicate our comfort with ourselves and unshakeable natures. Asymmetries, of all forms, attract a critical eye; when we hold the gaze of others in our palms and challenge their understanding of us as people as much as we do visually with our clothes, we possess the power to influence. When the world is already looking, we should give them something to look at, right?
Using our clothes and our confidence to speak for us, we can spark intrigue and investigation from onlookers (the jealous and jaded as much as the admiring and inspired). This gives us a chance to shape and reshape our narratives as much or as little as we desire. Elizabeth Taylor was never so irreversibly ashamed of herself that she allowed herself to stop living or to give up, in fact, her spirit of confident complexity is what kept her going and kept the world interested for decades. Furthermore, being “attractive” doesn’t always mean being “beautiful” or “perfect”. Sometimes, to attract and hold the attention (and admiration) of the room, we need to set ourselves apart as daringly different and confidently complex individuals; Elizabeth Taylor was never frightened by this possibility and saw it as an advantageous opportunity to remake herself, as do many seducers.
I don’t entirely approve of some of the things I have done, or am, or have been. But I’m me. God knows, I’m me.
Elizabeth Taylor (1932 – 2011)
2. Subtle Sensuality & Timeless Femininity – Balancing Strategic Revelation with Modest Elements
Elizabeth Taylor’s intentional use of tight clothing and modest layering goes beyond style; it showcases a meticulous approach to self-expression and impression management. The impression Taylor left was often of her sensuality and vivaciousness, but as her life grew more and more complicated, she needed to maintain this image through her confident complexity. Tight clothing mixed with modest layers, lengths, and cuts strategically conceals skin while allowing for varying degrees of modesty. This exudes timeless class and self-respect. The dual effect of this thoughtfulness is a nuanced sensuality that demonstrates a high self-esteem, maintains an air of mystery, and communicates effortless feminine appeal through intentional body contouring, shadow, and shape.
Elizabeth Taylor’s strategic use of clothing exhibited a thoughtful approach to her self-expression and impression management – i.e., she was able to “reveal” herself without baring it all. As much as her life was made public, she still found ways to assert control over her image. Her intention to do so made her seem more authentic and approachable without compromising her individuality and boundaries, reflecting a careful consideration of public image while conveying openness and warmth with a feminine touch.
You just do it. You force yourself to get up. You force yourself to put one foot before the other, and God damn it, you refuse to let it get to you. You fight. You cry. You curse. Then you go about the business of living. That’s how I’ve done it. There’s no other way.
Elizabeth Taylor (1932 – 2011)