20 Spirited Style Lessons from Elizabeth Taylor

There is no doubt that the British-born actress, who went on to star in films like National Velvet, The Taming of the Shrew, A Place in the Sun, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and won two Oscars—both for Best Actress—left a mark on not only the film industry, but the cultural psyche of the world, that continues to reverberate today. While Elizabeth Taylor's film credits shot her to the center of stardom (and the tabloids), it was her insatiable appetite for astonishing jewels and her love of love that resulted in many rollercoaster marriages and romantic dalliances. Plus, her undeniably glamorous style and beguiling beauty enraptured millions then and still today.

Elizabeth Taylor was born in 1932 to an art dealer father and actress mother who were based in London, but her American parents moved their family back to the States in 1939, settling in Los Angeles. After a friend's suggestion that the young Elizabeth take a screen test, the burgeoning actress began booking parts, landing with her first film role in 1942.

Beautiful even as a child, Taylor was captivating, with mesmerizing violet eyes, thick lashes (thanks to her having distichia, a genetic mutation that causes double eyelashes), and dark locks. Taylor was married eight times to seven different men throughout her lifetime, kicking off her first union with hotel heir Nicky Hilton when she was just 17 years old. The most talked-about of these marriages were those to Mike Todd, which left her a widow following his untimely death in 1958; to Eddie Fisher, Todd's best friend, with whom she had an affair while he was married to her friend and actress Debbie Reynolds; and Richard Burton, the man behind the headline-making love affair that began on the set of Cleopatra and resulted in several world-famous jewels landing in her possession. All of these relationships served to further catapult Taylor from mere stardom into the realm of super-stardom.

Here, a look at some of the actress and jewelry collector's most alluring moments that still offer style lessons in the realm of sophisticated and mysterious dress. They say clothes make the woman, but in this instance, we can all agree that this world-famous, globe-trotting, fearless woman definitely made the clothes.