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Françoise Hardy, Beloved French Singer and Fashion Icon Dies at 80

Françoise Hardy, the beloved French Singer and fashion icon has died at 80.

Hardy was born in Paris on Jan. 17, 1944 in the midst of an air raid on the Nazi-occupied city and by most accounts had a melancholy childhood whose spell was broken when her absent father gifted her a guitar after her early high school graduation at 16. With her stylish, androgynous look and a deadpan, breathy style that landed with young audiences thanks to lyrics about the heartache and angst of adolescence, films came calling and the singer was cast by director Roger Vadim in his 1963 comedy Château en Suède( Nutty, Naughty Chateau), alongside established star Monica Vitti. In addition to influencing (and being fawned over by) everyone from Bob Dylan to the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger, Hardy became a muse for fashion designers Yves Saint Laurent and Paco Rabanne as well, with famed photographers Richard Avedon and William Klein shooting her over the years.

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