Androgynous clothing was an unorthodox choice in the late 1930s. The Hollywood industry was dominated by the power women like Jean Harlow and Greta Garbo, who would usually dress themselves in sequins and fur, justifies what is referred to as the ‘Hollywood glamour’.

In contrast, Katherine Hepburn who had a slender physique, was fond of wearing oversized tailored suits and low-heeled pumps, which were more comfortable. “One does not design for Miss Hepburn,” the Oscar-winning costume designer Edith Head once said. “One designs with her, she is a real professional, and she has very definite feelings about what things are right for her, whether it has to do with costumes, scripts, or her entire lifestyle.”Hepburn always liked to play roles which complimented her self-styled looks, which were very androgynous, as she liked to wear menswear pants, which was not a popular choice at that time, she insisted on doing so both on and off the sets, that inspired a part of her audience, and she was given a title of the “box office poison”, as she gained popularity over time for her fearless personality. Hepburn has contributed to a great extent to make trousers acceptable by women. The menswear trends, wide legged trousers and oversized shirts and jackets are largely followed as trends which was first introduced by Hepburn in the 30s.

The Council of fashion designers of America honoured her with a lifetime achievement award in 1986, as a recognition of the influence she had on fashion-wear for women.

When the world’s fashion capital – Paris was going through the unrest, crippled by the impact of first world war in the late 30s followed by the great depression, the void was promptly filled by the Hollywood designers projecting American fashion onto the silver screen and to the world. That encouraged the exploration of modern, androgynous look pioneered by the likes of Hepburn, which was casual, tailored and oversize. Therefore, according to a leading costume historian Jean L. Druesedow and curator of the travelling exhibition “Katharine Hepburn: Dressed for Stage and Screen”. Hepburn captured the moment due to her American style. Her style conveyed the essence of modernism. Costumes were also dear to Hepburn’s heart, and she kept most of them in her New York townhouse, the collection was later sent to the Kent State University Museum, after her death in 2003.The Kent State Hepburn collection features about 1,000 stage, screen and television performance costumes, also few of Hepburn’s offstage clothes, including over 30 custom-made tan slacks.