The Big Picture
Katharine Hepburn challenged social norms by wearing pants, resisting Hollywood standards, and advocating for social justice causes.
Hepburn’s refusal to conform to patriarchal expectations made her a trailblazer in the film industry.
Despite initial setbacks, such as being labeled “box office poison,” Hepburn’s resilience and business acumen led to her Hollywood resurrection.
To describe Katharine Hepburn as anything less than a force of nature would be a lie. Descriptors such as “iconic” and “legendary” barely scratch the surface of this indomitable rulebreaker. Hepburn was shaking up paradigms practically from birth thanks to her progressive parents, who instilled a sense of fiery justice in their young daughter. Oppressive social norms deserved protest. Glass ceilings required shattering. And pants? Why shouldn’t women wear an article of clothing that’s — with exceptions, of course — far more comfortable and accommodating to movement than skirts? Lest we forget, Hepburn made such strides in the 1930s, a decade better suited to streetwear that emulated slim-and-trim Hollywood glamour while favoring simplicity, and shucking off the flapper dress’s free-flowing simplicity. No matter what anyone thought, Katharine Hepburn was going to wear what Katharine Hepburn wanted to wear, even when film studios tried to force her into conformity through curiously desperate means — i.e., by stealing her pants.
The Philadelphia Story
When a rich woman’s ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself.
Release Date January 17, 1941
Director George Cukor
Cast Cary Grant , Katharine Hepburn , James Stewart , Ruth Hussey , John Howard , Roland Young , John Halliday , Mary Nash
Runtime 112 Minutes
Main Genre Comedy
Writers Donald Ogden Stewart , Philip Barry , Waldo Salt
Why Did a Studio Steal Katharine Hepburn’s Clothes?
According to I Know Where I’m Going: Katharine Hepburn, a Personal Biography by Charlotte Chandler as well as Hepburn’s autobiography Me: Stories of My Life, a young Katharine Hepburn attended suffragette marches with her mother. Her parents, Thomas and Katharine Martha, steeped their daughter and her older brother Tom in complex social topics. They encouraged the siblings to discuss, debate, and learn. Describing her parents as “very remarkable,” even going so far as to state, “I’ve had a pretty remarkable life, but compared to my mother and father, I’m dull,” Hepburn cites her radical upbringing as the reason she spent her life ferociously committed to challenging social injustices. Hepburn was also a self-professed “tomboy” from an early age, preferring men’s clothing, cutting her hair short, and going by the alias “Jimmy.” She stayed active as an adult through swimming and running, to name a few of the many athleticisms in which she partook.
Hepburn’s cinematic career kicked off in earnest with her third film, Morning Glory, which earned the actress her first of four Academy Award wins and 12 nominations. Her wholly unique manner caught everyone’s eye, for good and ill. Hepburn avoided the press, never attended award shows, and refused to partake in empty social niceties. The song and dance required by the Hollywood publicity machine was a waste of time. Additionally, she advocated for larger paychecks, supported abortion and birth control, shunned makeup, refused to tone down her wickedly caustic assertiveness, and preferred comfortable clothes. Offscreen and off, she almost always strolled around in pants. Tall if not towering, she cut a striking image in the high-wasted and wide-legged trousers typically seen on men, paired with blouses ranging from casual to elegantly ruffled.
That visual oddity was the kicker. You see, women were supposed to wear skirts or dresses. Women were expected to behave. Katharine Hepburn never behaved. The studios — and some audience members — found such behavior distasteful. In an attempt to control Hepburn and mold her into a properly conventional lady, RKO Studios once snatched up Hepburn’s wardrobe. Her solution? She went about her day pants-less, in public. Realizing the battle was hopeless, a properly shamed RKO returned her trousers. Never again was Hepburn’s clothing challenged, to our knowledge.
Katharine Hepburn Was Always a Rule Breaker
This story makes for a fabulous anecdote. To truly understand Katharine Hepburn, however, it’s important to contextualize her refusal to yield to patriarchal expectations. Hepburn’s life was one of continual resistance. Before Hepburn, movies had no shortage of captivating actresses whose presence made the silver screen their own. From a modern perspective, there’s a multitude of audaciously powerful women to admire. Hepburn still stands alone in a category of her own making. A walking meteor unlike any actress that preceded her, she remakes the screen in her image. Her self-assurance, visible from miles away, verges on swagger; her resolute, adamantine backbone refuses to bow to anyone.
Even if her characters are hopelessly smitten with handsome men or become subservient to her love interests, swooning does not equal surrender. Her refined bone structure is conventionally attractive in theory yet strikingly individual. Perhaps that stems from the intellect always glinting behind her eyes and the tenacious pose of her body carriage. Katharine Hepburn’s cheekbones might be arresting, but they will cut flesh if you dare to wander too close. She’s imperious when silent and eviscerating when verbal. Every word feels like a command, even the softest ones spoken with raw intimacy. What’s more, it rolls off her in effortless waves. In many roles, she embraces her frizzy hair. Offscreen, she scorned makeup. Either way, she refused to comply with beauty conventional standards. Never once did Hepburn cleanly fit into a delineated “feminine” box. Hence the pants, chosen for comfort and accidentally morphed into subtle activism.
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For a time, Hepburn’s autonomous and countercultural demeanor earned her that infamous “box office poison” label. Studios deemed her a failure and disavowed her; audiences found her oddness off-putting. What could’ve been the end of another performer’s career was only a bump in the road for Katharine Hepburn, who happened to be an astute businesswoman. She engineered her Hollywood resurrection through The Philadelphia Story. Having starred in the acclaimed stage play, Hepburn supervised the 1940 adaptation with an iron fist. The heroine, Tracy Lord, is a prickly heiress who aches for love and needs humbling. Hepburn restored her image by playing into the public’s perceptions of her, however misguided or accurate they might have been. The Philadelphia Story was a sneaky movie that secured Hepburn’s future in the industry without requiring her to surrender her dignity. According to Philadelphia’s director George Cukor, “Kate did not grow up to Hollywood, Hollywood grew up to her.” Isn’t that the glorious truth?
Katharine Hepburn’s Legacy Still Inspires Women
Katharine Hepburn’s refusal to wear pants, even when the studio employing her stole them, perfectly distills her eternal character. Her heroines showed women a different way to live, to present themselves: hers was a new kind of androgynistic presentation that equaled freedom. She owned her body and the brain that came with it; her relationship with Spencer Tracy aside, one never senses that Hepburn made decisions for male eyes. She once stated, “In my relationships, I know that I have qualities that are offensive to people – especially men. I’m loud and talkative and I get on to subjects that irritate.” Did she diffuse those characteristics to be more palatable? Nope. She defined herself by her standards, her ambition, and the cultural issues that invited her championing. Society’s preconceived notions could stuff it.
That’s the inspiration dreams are made of. Although Hepburn was human and imperfect, people outside the gender binary can cling to her image. Throughout my life, I’ve tried to emulate her internal audacity and taken cues from Hepburn’s wardrobe. When I describe my complicated relationship with feminine clothing and how it intersects with my identity as a queer woman, I reference the lady who made me feel less alone: “Between the two Hepburns,” I say, “I’m Katharine, not Audrey.”
Regarding her preference for pants, Hepburn infamously quipped to Barbara Walters (with both spite and a grinning cheek) that the “one” skirt she owned she would “wear to your funeral.” She also told Walters, “I have lived as a man. I just did what I damn well wanted to and made enough money to support myself, and I’m not afraid of being alone.” Slay, queen. Hepburn even defied the odds by passing away at 96 years old after living a rich, fulfilling, and groundbreaking life of which her parents would be proud. Hepburn thought people would regard her death “just like they’d miss a very old monument.” A monument she was: a Mount Rushmore where all four faces carved into rock were hers, singular.
The Philadelphia Story is available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.
Rent on Prime Video