Before stylists and designers moulded actresses into red carpet advertisements for luxury labels, Diane Keaton cultivated an individual approach to androgynous dressing that resonated with women around the world.

Quirky combinations of baggy trousers, waistcoats, ties and hats from the star who has died at the age of 79, eschewed the traditional glamour of taffeta, silk and lace, projecting the image of a woman who wasn’t waiting for men to open doors for her.

It was a timely update of silver screen stars’ Marlene Dietrich’s tuxedos and Katharine Hepburn’s turtlenecks and wide-legged trousers.

Designer Ralph Lauren is often credited with launching Keaton as a fashion icon in the 1977 Woody Allen movie Annie Hall, but the Oscar-winning actress was responsible for her character’s eclectic output.

“Annie’s style was Diane’s style — very eclectic,” Lauren says in Vogue on Ralph Lauren. “Oversized jackets and vests, floppy men’s hats and cowboy boots. We shared a sensibility, but she had a style that was all her own. Annie Hall was pure Diane Keaton.”

Allen defended Keaton’s sartorial choices when Ruth Morley, costume designer for Annie Hall, challenged certain costume combinations. The controversial director, who dated Keaton in the early ’70s, admired the actress’s style when they met while working on his Broadway production of Play It Again, Sam, which went on to become a movie.

“She’d come in every day with an absolutely spectacularly imaginative combination of clothes. They were just great,” Allen told Rolling Stone in 1977. “She was the type that would come in with, you know, a football jersey and a skirt … and combat boots and, you know… you know, oven mittens.”

Keaton said that her personal style journey began with the encouragement of her mother, amateur photographer Dorothy Keaton, who would take her to secondhand stores.