difficulties?

I believe that the server hosting fabaudrey.com is having difficulties right now. I can't pull up their site or log in, and Fab Audrey itself isn't showing up. The pictures on this blog hosted on Fab Audrey aren't showing up either, so if you're having problems, don't worry, it's not you. And it's not us. ;) Hopefully everything will be fixed soon, so just hang in there!

vintage Audrey, more Little Black Dress, and making your dreams come true

From the ever resourceful Audrey Hepburn Circle comes yet another great find: Time Magazine's first ever article on Audrey! 53 years ago, a then unknown actress was put on the cover of Time. It was the first -- and only -- time an actor had ever been featured on the cover before even one feature film of theirs had been released. That unknown was Audrey Hepburn, and you can read the entire article here. It's an exceptional article and has a surprisingly detailed biography on her as well. You almost don't need to read a book on her after reading this!


And, building up to the auction of the ultimate Little Black Dress on Tuesday, there's yet another article about it and the history of the revolutionary dress. This article is exceptionally good, giving a very detailed history of black dresses and how black was and still is important to fashion in general. It also mentions more recent Audrey-inspired black dresses, including a dress designed by Tu Ly called "Audrey" for Shepherd's Fashion and Accessories (Canada). You can read the full article here, and you can see Tu's dress here. (Since the site is all Flash, I can't give a direct link, so you must click on "Little Black Dress Collection," and from there click on "Audrey.")




And lastly . . . it's not exactly Audrey related news, but I liked the idea. GMTV -- "Europe's biggest breakfast show" -- is having a contest where your wildest dream could come true. Whether you've wanted to have a shopping spree or really have breakfast at Tiffany's, write in to them and they could make your dream come true. For more information and to enter, just go here.

shopping

Since it's that time of year (and since this is the only news coming in), here's two little shopping tips.

Are you planning on getting anyone Audrey Style this year, or even maybe buying it for yourself? It may cost a little more than Amazon's markdowns, but you can actually buy the book from UNICEF! It's in the For Adults section, or you can just go straight here. You can even throw in Sean's An Elegant Spirit, which is also available through the charity. If you're going to be buying some Audrey gifts anyway, it might as well help out someone in need and brighten two lives at once. :) Found through this article.



Next up, for those of you in the UK doing some shopping, HMV has drastically reduced prices on boxed set DVDs, including the price on The Audrey Hepburn Collection. Originally £49.99, it's now down to a remarkable £14.99! You can read more about it and other good deals here.

Chick flicks, lookalikes, and the LBD

Thank you all for your patience. I appreciate it!

First up, the lovely Lotta has sent us a great find. It seems that in Finland in 1955 there was an Audrey Hepburn lookalike contest, and the grand prize was a trip to Stockholm! If you can read Finnish, then there's a short article here, and you can see a small picture of the winner. There is also a link to a short video about the contest on that page, or you can just click here. It seems that even then, everyone wanted to look like Audrey.

Next up, there's an article out about the top ten chick flicks. I personally don't care for the phrases "chick flick" or "chick lit," but this article does list Breakfast at Tiffany's at #5, and has a great description of Audrey's take on Holly: "Representing the woman almost any female wishes she could be, Hepburn plays Holly with an air of sophistication, sweetness, sexuality and vulnerability that can just never again be matched." That pretty much nails it.
Up next, Marni Nixon did a radio interview for the BBC, and there's more talk of Audrey. There's also a section that was sort of Audrey vs. Marilyn Monroe, which is like comparing apples and oranges. All the same, you can hear the entire interview here.

A school in Nevada does a really cool thing every year about this time: the kids do a live wax museum of people who were influential the year the kids were born. This year Audrey was featured! And while it's a little sad to think that she died around the time that most of these kids are born, it's pleasing to know that she's still remembered and that this generation is made aware of her. You can read all about it here. And speaking of wax museums:


The wax Audrey Hepburn from the Shanghai Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. Pretty cute! And her cigarette glows. (Photos from Flickr and Artem)

For the ladies: yet another article about the upcoming auction (five days!), and this one gives you some dos and don'ts on what to do to make your little black dress a success. It also has a most unflattering picture of yet another model in the Breakfast at Tiffany's dress, which makes me wonder how stretched out it's going to be by the time it hits the auction block. Anyway, the whole article can be found here.

Turner Classic Movies is interviewing director Stanley Donen for their Private Screenings series, and he will be discussing his many spectacular films. I'm sure there'll be some good Audrey stories told as well, since he always seems to be full of them on his commentaries, and TCM will also be showing Funny Face on December 6th. You can read more about TCM's upcoming events and details about the Stanley Donen marathon here.

And lastly, an article I found about Sean's work. In 2001 he directed a documentary on Albert "Racehoss" Sample, and while it's been very hard to find so far, it's had very positive reviews. This article talks about Racehoss and his mesmerizing life story, and at the end hints that maybe the film will be seeing some more mainstream distribution soon. Now I'm interested in seeing it . . .

be right back

My sister is in labor with her first child as I write this, so I'll be away until Wednesday evening. I'm sure you all understand!

UNICEF, pearls, and the lasting power of Audrey Hepburn

There's a really excellent article about UNICEF and the trials and tribulations of charities in the Guardian today. We've been seeing more and more articles popping up lately talking about the celebrity charity drive and how it can actually hurt charities more than help them, and this article lists some of UNICEF's more recent issues with its image and its partnerships. It also talks about certain big labels doing two-faced work by making their clothes via Third World sweatshops, yet launching conscientious items or lines to raise money for Third World citizens. *cough* Gap Red! *cough* It of course mentions Audrey's work and how she sort of started the celebrity spokesperson trend (though really the credit should go to Danny Kaye, who worked for 40 years as a Goodwill Ambassador and got Audrey involved), and how there are special classes celebrities take now to learn about charities and become spokespeople. Classes. It all seems very strange. Still, I highly recommend reading the whole article.


Next up, a book on Tiffany's pearls! I don't know how I've missed this one before, but Tiffany & Co. has released a book about their history with the lustrous gems. The history tends to be more entertaining than educating, but look who's on the cover:


Also featured inside is Liz Taylor and other pearl-loving stars. More information on the book and purchasing information can be found here.

And lastly, where would we be without another article marveling at Audrey's staying power? This is actually a very good write-up, and lists several recent mentions of Audrey I wasn't even aware of. It also gives a good mini-biography of her and has some good quotes by her and Sean. Go here to read the full article (2 pages).

EDIT: The Audrey reference mentioned in the last article about the TV show "The Class" is this; it's Halloween and a little girl has had help with her costume. She comes out like this:

Her mom doesn't get it. "Hello?!? Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's!" It's cute, but I wouldn't have mentioned it if I hadn't noticed what a spectacular job the costuming people did on the outfit. The tiara is great, the necklace is spot-on, and the dress is a near clone. Even the sunglasses are like mini-Wayfarers! Which made me wonder what one earth was wrong with the costumers on The Audrey Hepburn Story, if a 6 year-old could out-dress Jennifer Love Hewitt: