4t Legendary actress Diane Keaton wasn’t just a star on screen—she was a fearless trailblazer in fashion whose style spoke volumes long before she graced the camera. At 79, the world bids farewell to the “fairy godmother of fearless style,” whose menswear-inspired looks, playful eccentricities, and unapologetic authenticity redefined what it means to dress with confidence and individuality. Diane didn’t just wear clothes; she wore her truth, inspiring generations to forge their own paths with boldness and grace.
Legendary actress Diane Keaton has died. She was 79 years old. Following the news, we’re republishing Lynn Yaeger’s 2020 tribute to her style.
“A sense of freedom is something that, happily, comes with age and life experience,” the actor, author, and filmmaker Diane Keaton once alleged.
Diane, as your devoted fan and acolyte of many decades, I must respectfully disagree: Your sense of freedom, your daring, your staggering sartorial imagination were in evidence from the very beginning of your storied career and have made you, after all this time, the unrivaled fairy godmother of fearless style.
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For devotees of Diane, a voluminous dirndl skirt is not complete unless you pull up a pair of tweedy trousers beneath it; a redingote cries out for a floppy blouse, an ascot, and a humongous shawl-scarf; and even the most elaborate confabulation is not ready to roll unless it is accompanied by gloves—no matter what the weather—and topped by a bowler, a fedora, a trilby, or maybe a derby.
If the stern taskmaster Coco Chanel famously mandated that before you leave the house you should look in the mirror and take one thing off, women like Keaton, and me, gaze in the glass and put on at least one more thing.
Keaton flaunted her audacity early—discussing her role in Annie Hall (for which she won an Oscar in 1977), she confessed that she wore“whatever the hell I liked” in the film. And she is still wearing whatever the hell she likes, in portraits like the one featured in Look at Me, a new book by photographer Firooz Zahedi, and on Instagram for her 1.7 million devoted followers, myself included.
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“No one can predict who is going to touch your heart in away that changes your very being,” Keaton observes in Brother & Sister: A Memoir.
Though she meant those words in a very different context, I like to think that she also realized how much her formidable fashion sense has touched hearts and minds, giving us permission to forge our own styles, and travel our own paths.
This story appears in the November 2020 issue of Town & Country. SUBSCRIBE NOW
Lynn Yaeger writes about fashion and design and contributes regularly to The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Vogue.
