While much of the conversation around Sharon Tate centres of her tragic murder at the hands of the Manson family cult in 1969, the Hollywood star should also be remembered for her memorable on-screen roles and decade-defining style.
The ’60s starlet was 26 years old, and eight-and-a-half months pregnant with her first child, when she was murdered by followers of Charles Manson in a brutal home invasion in California while her husband, director Roman Polanski, was overseas working.
But prior to her death, Tate managed to amass an impressive roll call of performances, a legion of fans and a fashion legacy that still inspires designers today, particularly her role in the 1967 cult classic, The Valley Of The Dolls.
“Wearing an abbreviated miniskirt, she seems to enjoy the commotion she causes wherever she goes,” a 1966 article in The New York Sunday News read, according to AnOther magazine.
“Sharon also affects thick, black, false eyelashes, brown eye shadow around her lips, and long ash-blonde hair that falls freely about her shoulders. Her presence in a crowd is as insignificant as a floodlight in a blackout.”
With the casting of Margot Robbie as Tate in the Quentin Tarantino film Once Upon A time In Hollywood, the actress’s story is set to be revisited once again.
Here, we look at Tate’s most memorable fashion and beauty looks, from her ever-present beehive hair, to her thigh-grazing mini dresses.
At her wedding to Roman Polanski in 1968.
In a press shoot in 1960.
Donning a blue suit in 1969.
In The Valley Of The Dolls in 1967.
In Cannes with Polanski in 1968.
On a night out in 1968.
In London in 1965.
Her iconic beauty look.
On a film set in 1967.
A fresh-faced beauty look with a fringe in 1965.
In 1969.
On set in 1966.
In the 1967 movie Don’t Make Waves.
In a bombshell look in 1965.
At premiere in a gothic bridal look in 1966.
In 1966.
Wearing a snakeskin-print trench dress in 1965.
At the airport in 1967.