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Brigitte Bardot was not so much about the clothes, as the lack of them. The symbol of free spiritedness, her importance to fashion cannot be underestimated. Until her rise to fame in the early '50s, Western women were rarely seen without heels and a hat, in structured clothing and set hair (think Betty Draper in Mad Men).

Bardot broke free of these restrictions, wearing ballet pumps, loose, tousled hair and short dresses to show off her famously perfect legs. She made the bikini famous with an appearance on the beach in Cannes in 1953. Save for her cat's eye make-up and a glossy pout, her face was bare.

From Kate Moss to Lindsay Lohan to Amy Winehouse, everyone channels Bardot. But no one has since been able to quite capture her potent allure of sex, gracefulness and joie de vivre.Here, Handbag looks at the enduring style of celebrity fashion icon Brigitte Bardot.

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