An aspiring fashion designer has told how she's compared to Hollywood icon Audrey Hepburn almost every day.
Denton has its own 'fair lady' with Mia Jones who bears a striking resemblance to megastar Audrey.
Mia, 23, didn't realise her uncanny likeness to the movie legend until she had her fringe trimmed short by her hairdresser mum Adele when she was 16.
Adele, 54, cut it short so that the style would last longer but almost overnight people started to compare Mia to the My Fair Lady actress.
Mia then adopted her signature winged eyeliner and chic dress sense.
After falling in love with her films she decided to study fashion and photography and gained a first-class honours degree.
Mia is now compared to the actress, who died in 1993 at the age of 63, up to four times a week by strangers.
She said: “I’ve had a really short fringe from when I was little.
“My mum is a hairdresser and I always asked her to cut it at eyebrow level but she always cut a bit shorter so she wouldn’t have to do it too often.
“She was so busy and didn’t want to have to do my hair all the time.
"I’d watched My Fair Lady when I was younger, because we had the video and it was one of my mum’s favourites.
“I didn’t know who Audrey Hepburn was then, but it was one of my favourite films too.
“It felt nice when people said I looked like her and I worked out that’s who they meant.
"I wasn’t complaining."
She added: "I was about 16 when it all started.
“Quite a few times a week people would tell me I look like Audrey Hepburn.
"People at college, friends of my mum and dad, and it even happened in Primark.
“I think it was because of the Galaxy advert which had a CGI of Audrey Hepburn on it.
“Lots of people at college said 'you look like the lady on the Galaxy advert.'
“I watched a few of her films and got into the style and makeup and it all came from there.
“I had been thinking of doing art at uni, and I did a year of an art foundation course, but this inspired me to do fashion.
“I really loved the film Funny Face.
“It’s all about fashion and photography, so I did photography too.
“I like really cheesy musicals like that.”
Audrey's black dress by fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy, worn in the 1961 romantic comedy film Breakfast at Tiffany's, is cited as the most famous little black dress of all time.
Inspired by Hepburn and Givenchy's collaboration, Mia decided to pursue fashion as a career.
She went to Stockport College to do a foundation course in art, then went on to Salford University to study fashion in September 2018.
She said: “I think it was when I noticed her collaboration with Givenchy, I wanted to find a career in fashion.
“I really loved the way those two brought fashion and screen together.
“Even if it wasn’t the first time that had happened it was still a big moment for film and fashion.
“She made the tight-fitting little black dress much more popular than it had been before.
"I feel like she was a big influencer with that classic sixties style.
“When I watched the films at 16 or 17 I really started to copy her style.
“I love the winged eyeliner.
“Once I’d copied it it kind of stuck with me.
“I really like how her everyday style is really laid back and in the films she’s wearing really high end clothes.
"There is no in between.”
She continued: “In Sabrina, another of my favourites, she’s in a Givenchy suit and I really liked that classic style, so I started wearing a lot of it.
“Now I wear more of her casual look because of lockdown."
Mia graduated with a first-class honours degree in fashion, image making, and styling.
She is currently working at a golf club and hopes to land her dream job in fashion when everything opens up again.
Describing the similarities between herself and Audrey she said: “There’s quite a lot about us that’s similar.
“I have a big forehead like Audrey does, and my eyebrows are quite thick and straight like hers, and I’ve got quite small features like her.
“My neck’s quite long and thin like hers.
“When I watched documentaries about her she seems like she didn’t really like being in the spotlight.
“I feel a bit like that sometimes.
“In the documentary she has a lot of insecurities like mine.
“She had the courage to follow her dreams, she advocated for kindness, and tried to make the world brighter.
“There are differences too.
“I’m a few inches shorter than her, plus I’m obsessed with clothes shopping, but I do a lot of charity shop shopping which I’m sure Audrey didn’t do.”
