The little black dress (actually a long black dress) worn by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s has just been auctioned off for a record $924,588 dollars at Christies in London, on Tuesday. This was roughly six times the highest estimate for the amount of money that the dress would bring in.
The dress was designed by Givenchy, who later donated it for a sale to help the famous “City of Joy” charity in Calcutta:
The dress, an iconic piece of cinematic history, was designed by Hubert de Givenchy, who became Hepburn’s life-long friend in 1953. He donated the dress to Dominic Lapierre, founder of the charity City of Joy Aid, which helps India’s poor…
Hepburn, who died in 1993, devoted much of her time in her later life to her role as Ambassador for UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund.City of Joy Aid is supporting the work of more than 1,000 social workers, doctors, nurses, therapists and educators in India, helping more than four million sufferers of tuberculosis, cholera and leprosy. [Link]
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p>Givenchy made 3 such dresses for Hepburn – the other two are in museums. The charity was founded by novelist Dominique Lapierre who wrote a book of the same name which later became a movie starring the incomparable Om Puri and also Patrick Swayze.
Hepburn was one classy dame. Her commitment to helping others lives on long after she’s dead and gone.
Sir,
Good show! By Jove, you have acquitted yourself well! Ms. Hepburn exhibits all the grace and civility of a bygone age. Beauty without and within she possessed in abundance. ’tis a far poorer without her presence….
I love Audrey Hepburn, I love the dress, and I even love Om Puri, but City of God? Why do tales of the South always have to be about white male redemption?
City of Joy, that is!
because the storywriter projects his frustrations and realizes his aspirations through the protagonist. the way the game’s played my dear fellow. after all, god was created in the image of man.
Dominique Lapierre also wrote a book on Bhopal (in French; I don’t know if it’s been translated into English). It’s more about pity-enducement than anything else, and the Union Carbide people are surprisingly left off the hook. I mean he points the finger at them. But then goes “oh look at them poor men, such hubris” and he puts a big chunk of the blame on the Indian manager hired to crunch down on costs at the plant, which lead to the eventual catastrophe. It’s like the link between those who ordered the cost cuts and the guy who implemented them didn’t exist. I was quite disgusted. It’s only when I read the post-scriptum that I found out that DL was running a foundation, which in retrospect greatly coloured the type of writing he did. It’s a tearjerker acting as promotional material.
ok. you’ve seen the original above.
here’s what the contemporary version looks like.
one was all class. the other is all ass.
Awesome.
To echo a previous commenter on some other thread, it is finds like hairy_d’s that makes SM such an awesome place. Muy props to my homie ennis naturally. These posts also help him channel the goddess within.
Hairy_D,
Nuttin’ wrong with either one of them, mundea. You don’t like leggy ladies ? 😉
Ah, I get it. “Less is more” and all that. Very true and I agree completely. Although sometimes “more, more, more” is also good…..
Okay I was just being a little badmaash above. Lots of leggy action is great. However, personally I think that a tight-fitting dress on a lovely lady which shows the figure but comparatively little skin is more alluring than one where much more is exposed.
But if a lot of leggy action was revealed then I wouldn’t complain either.
Okay, I think I’ve played both sides against the middle sufficiently and covered all PC and non-PC bases. Someone sign me up to the UN and send me to the Middle-East.
Great story — and yes Ennis, you are right, she really did have a unique aura of class. She is wonderful in ‘My Fair Lady’ – by turns heartbreaking, hilarious, sexy, stylish and you utterly fall in love with her through her performance and transformation.
I can’t think of any other actress in Hollywood that has a similar quality since she passed.
“Why do tales of the South always have to be about white male redemption?” oh, there have been a few tales set in the North (or should I say West) where the theme was the redemption of the female-of-color protaganist, because it was she who wrote the story. It all depends on who does the writing, and on who thinks they need redeeming.
One pretty dress! Natalie Portman looked stunning when she donned it for a magazine cover.
I love how it started a trend that made black sexy…heck…I even got black saris for evening occasions!
Man, that kind of dress is soooo much sexier than crap people wear now. I wish today’s ingenues (sp?) would leave a little to the imagination, it is so much more enjoyable.
Ennis: Audrey Hepburn was, and still is my wife’s all-time favourite. May be because she (Yo Mom i.e.)was preety skinny herself like Audrey. Her acting in My Fair Lady, as well as the movie in which she was involved in a diamond heist from some museum (I forgot the name of the movie) was superb. I will have to call my wife who is currently in India to-nite, to give this news regarding Ms. Hepburn. By the way, the other famous great Hepburn (Katherine) is still alive and as fiesty as any New Englander ever. Thanks for the post.
aaah, audrey hepburn!
i think you’re reffering to “How To Steal A Million” with the superb Peter O’Toole. today’s hollywood pairings are poor imitations and pale in comparison. the black dress she wore in that movie (with a black face mask) is much better than this one, in my opinion, as far as little black dresses go. i’ll always remember her introduction to satyajit ray when he won the oscar for lifetime achievement in 1992.
Don’t forget Miss Bacall, either. She once wafted past me in a restaurant and I can still feel the glow.
i can relate siddharth. i had the same reaction when i crossed paths with queen latifah recently.
Ennis channeling his inner Fashionista. I’m all mistyeyed Sirji. sniff I think it’s brilliant because Hepburn would have so approved this were she alive. My first intro to her was thru My Fair Lady. My father took me to see it near Flora Fountain (I forget the name of the theater) in Mumbai, the only theater at the time that used to show English movies. I was enamored. I’m listening to Moon River in her honor right now 🙂
Sriram, actually even this dress leaves little to the imagination, as hairy_d pointed out.
Who knew the skirt portion was slit all the way up to the wearer’s hipbone?
JoAT – thanks! I’m not really qualified to comment on fashion or music, but I’m happy to post stories that involve that topic.
Oh please fashion smashen…I’ve seen you and you are one serious fashionable mofo.
Actually formal fashions (gowns/evening wear) haven’t changed that much since that gown. There aren’t very many silhouettes that one can come up with, what goes on and the fabric can be innovative but not the actual shape. 🙂
Well that’s good then, ’cause the shape definitely works for me.
indeed another great hepburn. she passed away in 2003 at age 96.
Ms. HepburnÂ’s movies were always popular in Bombay/Delhi back in the day. That and Bruce Lee flicks were some of Western philums that made it through the notoriously fickle Indian censors. Coincidentally, brunettes in little black dresses and kung-fu masters are just a few of my favorite things. HereÂ’s Mr. John Coltrane on the matter.
You know, after seeing that photo of Ennis a few months ago looking, shall we say, very flamboyant in that purple get-up, I’ve often had some suspicions about him.
Meaning, he’s a little bit “fabulous”, he’s a little bit “festive”, a little “on the left”, a little “idhar-udhar”, a little “aisa-waisa”…..
😉
one of my favorite memories of growing up was watching “my fair lady” with my parents and sister. it was such a long movie that it allowed us a precious night of staying up late. 15 years later my sister and i can still sing all the songs from memory (and even with a bit of a cockney – is that what it is? – accent.)
if i could go my whole life looking a little bit like audrey hepburn i would. and to confess, sometimes i certainly try. one would have never guessed how those late night movie viewing would influence my fashion choices today.
funny thing is, I saw a guy the other day who believes the same. the only discordant note was a purple floppy hat and a cycle he was riding splay legged.
who knows, the million dollar little black dress is destined for a similar gentleman
do you think the gloves make the ensemble even more appealing?
AH is probably my most favorite actress ever. Everytime I think of her or see one of her movies my heart literally feels lighter – perhaps she is my movie crush?
And forget My Fair Lady, it is all about Sabrina and Roman Holiday (oooo Gregory Peck!)
JoAT, this put the biggest smile on my face this morning.
I had these associations. Writer a = pop culture, writer b = social issues and so on. Maybe I was wrong in making those assumptions, but I have been noticing a trend where a lot of you are switching styles. It’s cool and us One Prick Tonies respect that.
Hey Abhi – it seems my game just went flat too …
In the other thread, WGiiA made an interesting point:
Does Hepburn set an unrealistic standard of beauty? A number of women have commented on how much they admired her, and she’s the same weight in as Preeti Desai, and only one inch shorter.
But with Ms. Hepburn there is more to admire than her beauty because of her body of work, her humanitarian efforts, etc. With the model, all anyone really knows about her is the fact that she looks good. If there was a more complete picture of her, I’m sure the opinions expressed would be different.
WGIIA: Thanks. I must be out of the country when KH died. Never got that memo from anyone either. I agree she was great with Gregory Peck (My hero) in Roman Holiday.
Ennis, if you were ‘flaming’ any higher on this thread then you’d set off the fire extinguishers in the bunker. Which, in SM’s case, probably just involves the SM Intern running around desperately with a leaky watering can.
I think people on the other thread just noticed Preeti’s figure more because she’s wearing a bikini etc. If Hepburn had been from “today’s generation” of actresses and had frequently been similarly scantily attired, people might have picked up on her supposed lack of weight too. shrug
Although a lot of models (eg. Twiggy) were “fashionably skinny” in the 60s too, which I believe corresponds to Hepburn’s era.
Although Hepburn was also denied food during WW2 and nearly starved to death, so maybe the conversation would be different since she wasn’t purposefully starving herself?
She is my favorite, even though she’s a skinny-minny.
The only difference between the Hepburn version and the Christie’s version is that in both photo shoots, they took all kinds of poses. It’s just that back then they couldn’t show leg, and today they can. Don’t doubt for a second that AH didn’t take a few shots showing some (or more likely, a lot of) leg. I mean how could you not with such a high slit on the skirt?
ennis, i believe hepburn was initially considered an “unconventional beauty” (sort of ugly duckling type) compared to more voluptuous earthily sexy actresses like loren, lollobrigida, hayworth, monroe etc. i think she used to mention her too large feet, her skinny body, her larger head etc.
i think sriram is correct in pointing out that her status as a great beauty rests more on her entire package: her movies, her roles, her personality, her charm, grace, style, protective male co-stars who fell for her cerebral and fragile beauty. i think her status as a legendary hollywood star also protects her image as a beauty icon. so she “gets away” with it, even if some of her physical attributes rae the same as those that are criticized today in other people. it’s like marilyn monroe still being considered a sex symbol in popular culture even though very few of today’s actresses would consciously want to emulate her figure – if she was around today she would be under pressure to slim down.
jai is also right – if hepburn was one of today’s actresses, she would probably come in for more criticism for her thinness. i wonder if any of her contemporaries (other stars or regular women) griped about her figure? i would bet she faced some of the same remarks that we all make about today’s celebrities, models etc. i think, in the end, it boils down to our personal tastes. slimness or thinness (or the opposite) just sits well on some and not on others according to our own prejudices and eye-of-the-beholder thing. for example, kate moss is same height as hepburn but only three-five pounds lighter and is classed as “heroin” chic. yet it somehow sits better on hepburn than moss (i personally will never understand the fascination with moss’s look – but then that’s a personal bias of mine towards hepburn’s face over moss’s face) to most people who think moss is too thin.
The difference is that we don’t see Hepburn’s spine through her clothes…
i read somewhere that all of this comes down to the hip/waist ratio business — we obviously should resemble pears and not apples (women and men). That golden number is supposed to be .8 for women — apparently this will guarantee you an enviable number of mating proposals. here’s a calculator: http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/whr
oops — above comment posted on wrong story. thousand apologies.
Anybody else see her dancing in the latest GAP commercial to promote ‘skinny’ jeans? I didn’t recognize it was her at first – I thought it was a 13 year old girl. And to think I saw her do the same dance in the original Funny Face.
a fun desi fact about My Fair Lady: Colonel Pickering was an expert on Indian dialects, and the author of “Spoken Sanskrit”
Would she have been a star with the same amount of fame and adulation even without that much of skinny figure? Yes.
Do any of our walking encyclopedias know if My Fair Lady was ever ripped off (sorry, adapted) in a Bollywood film? It would have been a natural – poor village girl comes to Mumbai, rich guy living in a bungalow in Juhu makes her his protege, his rich and pompous industrialist parents disapprove and throw him out of the house (that’s the Indian part), ultimately love and rigorous makeover of the village girl conquers all social prejudices, and in the last scene, the waif now turned wife touches the feet of his parents as the previously cantankerous mother-in-law blurts out the ultimate word of acceptance – “beti.”
I adore Audrey Hepburn, which makes my comments in the Beauty Queen thread suspect. Hyprocrisy, thy initials are MD. Anyhoo, were there more varieties of actresses and beauty in the Golden days of film? Lots of skinniness in twenties and thirties, va-va-voom in forties, voluptious in fifties, so the skinny-minnies were in contrast. Who are the current actress contrasts, body wise? I suppose the great JLo and Beyonce, for a time. Hmmm, complicated.
Anyway, the underrated George Peppard helped make Breakfast at Tiffany’s what is was almost as much as Audrey. Can you imagine anyone else as dreamy as a kept man? I loved “Fred” in that movie: what a man! I bet his cufflinks were just right and his trousers broke over his shoes in just the perfect way. I am being totally serious. Mr. Varjack be dreamy.
I mean: can you imagine anyone else being sexy in a role as a kept man….just wanted to clarify. Mickey Rourke was an embarrassment, though.
I mean Mickey Rooney, not Rourke. Oh, I give up.
Floridian,
But of course! The one I rememeber is “Man Pasand” with Tina Munim playing Audrey’s role. This was a while ago – early 80s, maybe? The movie was a pretty good adaptation of Pygmalion – the flower girl became a “datoon seller” on the local train…I think the prof was Dev Anand. I remember it as an entertaining movie, with good songs – in fact, I think one of them was “Rehne ko ek ghar hoga”….
Bitterlemons-the-old 🙂