What is happening to me??

I've got a birthday coming - the big 55.  I'm truly okay with it, mostly.  A bit frightened about the unknown, but basically at peace with me, my life and my past. Most of the time.
But I'm having a quiet internal fashion revolution.
All my life, I rebelled against "Style."  I have been a bare feet, jeans or Indian skirt kinda woman. I taught high school English dressed in Indian print harem pants.  I have been defiantly nonconformist.
So why is Audrey Hepburn (who I have always loved but never sought as a style guru) looking so good to me now?
I'm drawn to simplicity, to monochromatic outfits with one splash of color.
When I was a young mother, I went through my cabbage rose phase.  Every knit top or dress I possessed had big, fat flowers on it. Somewhere along the line I sent them all back to Goodwill (from whence they came; I'm a lifelong thrift shop denizen) and traded them for plainer fabric or simple, small, abstract prints.
So there's a precedent for this shift.
Let me make this plain: I do not have the Hepburn body.  Maybe I could, if I starved.  I do not starve.  I have hips. And thighs that I prefer to not think about.
But even with my more generous proportions, there's an elegance that I'm shooting for.  It's what I think of when someone says "French."
I whacked all my hair off once, very much like Hepburn in this photo. It wasn't me and I grew it out immediately, but what surprised people I knew was that they suddenly found I looked "French" - whatever that means.
So I've got the potential.  And I'm undeniably grown up.  Despite the fact that I may be, as one person tells me I am, a bohemian artist, that doesn't mean I have to wear Earth shoes and drawstring cotton pants.
So I'm curious about all this fashion stuff.  I don't buy into it, and I absolutely deplore the prices women pay to copy it, but I'm interested to see it.
I saw it the other night on HGTV, of all places...and not where you might think.  There was a couple from Wisconsin or some other rosy-cheeked middle of the country state who were moving to Paris.  Their realtor is someone I remember from another Househunter International Episode.  Her name is Adrian Leeds. She looks like a NY deli expert transplanted into France.  Her salt and pepper hair is wiry and long, tucked back behind one ear.  She has huge glasses, bright red lipstick.  And topping it all was a jaunty beret.  She looked fabulous - and definitely someone I'd enjoy working with.

That's what I'm shooting for - elegant personal style with a bit of  whimsy.  Nothing you'll find in a magazine and certainly nothing I would copy from anyone else.  But it'll take some research.
You'll find a couple of new blog recommendations listed on the side here from "fashionistas" (sorry - I have to go be sick for a sec).
Don't judge me.  I'm just curious.