The “haute couture” wardrobe of the famous actress Audrey Hepburn is sold
Recently, at Kerry Taylor London auction, has been sold the main part of the richest collections of costumes and accessories of the famous classic movie star Audrey Hepburn – the fragile beauty who wore cloth only from the finest designers.
The collection includes 36 items from Audrey’s wardrobe: dresses, suits, belts, hats and tweed coats, of 1953-1960 years. Organizers hoped to collect 100 000 pounds, but due to the proceeds of the auction, the amount exceeded 270 000 pounds.Most of the costumes offered for auction were made specifically for the actress by famous brands and fashion designers, including the “little black dress” from Valentino, a luxurious evening gown from Elizabeth Arden and models by Audrey’s favorite designer – Hubert de Givenchy.
Hepburn was a real “muse” for this well-known fashion designer and inspired him to create new models. For example, it was Hubert de Givenchy dress of black silk, in which Audrey has appeared in the movie “Paris When it Sizzles”. The starting price of the lot at the auction was 15 000 pounds, but it was bought for 16 800 pounds.Many outfits from the collection of Audrey Hepburn are made in the favorite colors of the star: pastel colors, black, ivory, and some pink models.The star of 1950-1960-ies was very fragile, like an “Elf”: height – 166.8 cm, bust – 76.8 cm, waist – 52,8 cm, hips – 81.6 see why not every modern model could even try on the costumes of Audrey.In addition to the abovementioned outfits, in the auction was included a unique cocktail toilet of French lace – the actress starred in it in the famous movie “How to Steal a Million”. This dress was one of the gems of the collection: it was estimated at 20 000 pounds, but sold for 60 000 pounds.Luxurious wedding dress of ivory satin, which was included in the collection, was created for the 23-year-old actress in 1952 by the Fontana Sisters brand, for an alleged wedding with Lord James Hanson.
However, the wedding was not destined to take place – a few weeks later it was postponed by Hepburn herself. The actress asked the designers to find a poor and beautiful girl, and give her this gorgeous wedding dress. It is not known who received such a magnificent gift, but today this dress was bought for 13 800 pounds (starting price – 12 000 pounds).
Audrey Hepburn was distinguished not only by her beauty and talent, but by a generous soul – she did not give her dresses only to the poor.Tanja Star-Basmanov, who was the actress’s friend for 15 years, remembers that Audrey has always bestowed her things which she was not going to wear.
Half of the proceeds from the sale will go to The Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund, UNICEF organization, and to the “All Children in School” project for education and training in schools of 115 million poor children around the world.
Actress Anna Friel has recently received one of the famous roles of Audrey Hepburn – she will play Holly Golightly in a classical movie “«Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. This was the most famous work of Audrey.
Interestingly, that the boyfriend of Anna Friel, actor David Thewlis, who masterfully played the role of Lupine in the epic Harry Potter, visited the London auction – though he have not bought a single outfit of Hepburn.
