The
last big news item on Audrey Hepburn was an exhibit in Italy showcasing
Audrey's life in Rome. The exhibit was sadly short-lived, yet still
managed to raise nearly $100,000 for UNICEF! If you couldn't make it out
to Rome to visit the exhibit, but desperately wanted to see the
displays of Audrey's clothes, personal belongings, and candid
photographs, never fear: a special book curated by her son Luca Dotti
has been released with 192 pages of text and pictures for your
enjoyment.
If you are in Europe, you can order the book through Amazon's Italian page here,
or try your luck at local bookstores, as they have been spotted out and
about. If you are in the U.S., the book is harder to find, but not
impossible. A few sellers on Amazon
have copies at around $30 (plus shipping), and would cost you near the
same amount to order a copy from overseas and have it shipped to you.
The best part is that all royalties from the sales go directly to the
Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund.
In an extra bit of news: if you are on Twitter, so am I! You can now get all your Audrey news in 140 characters or less. See you there.
Exciting news! There will be a new exhibit on Audrey Hepburn in Rome, Italy, running from October 26th through December 4th. While there will be photos and personal items of Audrey's on display, this exhibit is different from Timeless Audrey, the exhibit that has been displayed in Germany and Japan and select other locations. Audrey A Roma is a special exhibit showcasing the years Audrey lived as an Italian housewife whilst married to her second husband, Andrea Dotti.
The exhibit will have extremely rare home videos of Audrey in Rome, as well as personal and paparazzi photos of her - the paparazzi often mailed Audrey the photos they had taken of her - and when possible, the very clothes she was wearing in those pictures will be on display as well. For those who have seen Timeless Audrey, it sounds like there will be enough new material to make this exhibit worth your while, and if you haven't yet seen Timeless Audrey, then here's a sneak preview for you!
Information is still trickling in at this point, but I can give you some basics, plus a lot of lovely links to look through. The Italian branch of UNICEF, which is working with The Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund, has a new mini-site up about Audrey's work with UNICEF and the exhibit, which you can see here. 25% of ticket proceeds will go towards UNICEF Italy's ongoing mission in Chad, Africa. Not only that, but there will be a special card designed just for this Italian exhibit, and the purchase of this card turns into a donation for a course of vitamins and minerals for a malnourished child - though if you can't make it to the exhibit but would still like to help in the name of Audrey, you can buy the card online here. A really lovely blog that's heavy on pictures has been set up on Tumblr, so if you're already on there, it'll be very easy for you to follow and get a daily dose of Audrey. You may also read more about the intentions behind the exhibit, and Sean and Luca's thoughts on it, on the Children's Fund website here. And while I don't have a link yet for this last bit, I can tell you that a picture book called Audrey A Roma (Audrey In Rome) will be on sale at the exhibit and elsewhere, designed by Audrey's son Luca Dotti. It will be in Italian bookstores and the Italian Amazon, but before you complain, word is that the book is being translated into English, French and German, and will be released sooner rather than later! Stay tuned.
As for the details ... if you can make it to the exhibit, here's what you need to know: The exhibit is at the Ara Pacis Museum Lungotevere in Augusta, Rome, and runs every day but Mondays from 9am to 7pm (no entries after 6pm). Admission is 10€, but discounts can be had, and there are certain cases for free admission.
I'm well aware of the fact that you all love the illustrations for Just Being Audrey by now. How could you not love Julia Denos's adorable drawings of a rosy-cheeked Audrey? Well, if you own the book but would like something more, maybe something worth framing or sending off to friends, Julia has just opened a shop with limited edition prints, both of illustrations from the book and never before seen drawings, plus a darling set of greeting cards. The prints are $50-150, while the note cards are more affordable at $25, but with all of these, proceeds go to the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund. Isn't that great? You get something you love, you support an artist, and children in need are helped as well. Everybody wins.
As I'd mentioned here a while ago, there's a huge auction coming soon in London that will sell quite a lot of Audrey's wardrobe. At the time information was fairly scarce, but thanks to people finally putting out press releases and Vogue picking up on the story, we finally have some information.
Kerry Taylor Auctions will be selling a good collection of Audrey's personal and film wardrobe, every piece authenticated, on December 7 and 8. This is big news not only because it's rare to find wardrobe that has been authenticated, it's even more rare to find such a large collection being auctioned all at once. More good news out of this: half of the proceeds go directly to the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund! What a nice surprise.
It was a surprise to learn that the clothes being auctioned off are currently part of a small touring exhibit that has or will hit New York and Paris before being displayed in London. I wish I would have known sooner! Not that I can just jet off at the drop of a hat, but so other people in the area could have advance notice. Bah. Anyway, collectors and designers are very excited about all of this and estimate that the auction could raise more than £100,000. Not too shabby! And if past auctions have been any indications, this will be a conservative lowball estimate.
So there's that! It'd be nice to have even more information come out soon, but we shall see. In the meantime, here's the article in Vogue, here's a press release via the Children's Fund site (PDF), and here's the auction page from Kerry Taylor's website with pictures and information on the lots, plus the tour dates for the exhibit. I'm afraid we've just missed New York, but if anyone is in Paris or will be December 1 and 2, you still have a chance!
P.S. For all you fashionistas out there, there looks to be quite a lot of vintage Chanel jewelry and couture up for sale as well. Absolutely gorgeous and definitely worth a look. And some Lanvin, Balenciaga, Dior, Schiaparelli, Mary Quant and, of course, Givenchy.
Thank you all for your ongoing patience here. I'm in the midst of moving (yes, again) and I start a whopping 16 units of school next week, so needless to say, I'm a bit crazy right now.
I hope you've been enjoying the pictures from the Timeless Audrey exhibit! Perhaps someday soon when I have a free day (hah!), I can maybe drop by the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund office and ask if they need help and maybe suss out some information, like where the exhibit will go next. You should all have the chance to see it in person! I shall try for you.
In the meantime, my brother-in-law unearthed the script for Why Can't I Be Audrey Hepburn? among his things and lent it to me. Not sure if it was for my screenwriting class that I'll be taking, or because I'm somewhat enamored of the lady, but after hearing about this script (and the rumors surrounding it) for ages, I can't wait to read it!
And the site will be back up before too long. I'd love to give it an overhaul and finally debut it as originally intended, in English, French and German, but je ne parle pas bien français -- until the end of the semester, that is. So for now my focus is getting it back up, and when I have the leisure time, revamping everything and finally getting the picture galleries sorted properly. I love pictures of Audrey more than anything, but those galleries are the bane of my existence.
I'll be back soon with a review of the script and whatever else I may unearth in the meantime. Stay beautiful!
This time, my friends, there's good reason for my not updating regularly. I've been sitting on this as long as I can, but now I must share: I will be in Berlin for the Timeless Audrey exhibit on May 4, Audrey's birthday! I haven't found any details yet but I know that something special is happening on what would have been our fair lady's 80th birthday, so you shall know shortly after I do. :) I will, of course, be taking loads of pictures where I can (there's no photos allowed in the exhibit, but I'll see what I can do in the name of journalistic integrity) and bringing back as much information as possible for everyone that can't just jump out to Germany at the drop of a hat. (There's also rumors that the exhibit may be coming back to the US for a mini-tour, but nothing is confirmed.)
While perusing the exhibit's site, I found a link to some cool little thing that I swear wasn't there before. You can now submit a picture of yourself to be featured in a photo collage of Audrey for the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund! The catch is that it's about €10 to submit a picture of yourself -- or pay for a friend to upload their own picture -- but nearly all the proceeds go directly to the Children's Fund and their All Children In School program. You can find more information here, though be warned that it's entirely in German. I can give you translations if you want, or you can run it through Babelfish or some other online translator.
Lastly, the gallery exhibit/book signing event in L.A. is tonight and I will be there. Pictures are definitely allowed, so if you're in the neighborhood and can drop by, do so! There's supposed to be previously unseen pictures of Audrey up, plus, there's a picture book to thumb through. Who doesn't love Audrey themed picture books? :)
Svenska Mõbler 154 N. La Brea Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90036 map 6-8 pm
And Saturday morning I will be flying out to Paris and from there to Berlin. I'll be back in Paris for two weeks and will try to hit every Audrey landmark in the city that I can to share with all of you, but I'm also there on "business" (researching a screenplay) and modeling, so I may be a bit loopy from jetlag and not sleeping. We'll see how it goes . . .
Great news for all of the Audrey fans around the world who have been asking about the Timeless Audrey exhibit, the traveling display of Audrey Hepburn memorabilia. I got an email this morning from a fellow by the name of Daniel who tells me that the exhibit is currently in Berlin (Germany), and will stay there until May 10th. This is very exciting! After spending more than a year in Japan, where Audrey is still a very huge icon, the flats and displays needed to be refurbished after a lot of moving and general wear and tear, and no one at the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund was sure when the exhibit would be ready to travel again. Now we know. :)
Anyway, all proceeds from visitors to Timeless Audrey will directly benefit UNICEF's All Children In School, a project we know was very close to Audrey's heart. I'm putting up a copy of the flyer (in English, so I don't need to translate for you) below, and Daniel has also asked that I put up a link to a website put up expressly for Timeless Audrey's time in Germany, which I'm more than happy to do. The site can be found here. It's all in German, though, so brush up on your Deutsche before heading in. :)
That's the only information I have about the exhibit at this time, but I'll be sure to keep an eye out and see if I can't find out if it will be making other European stops. It'd be silly not to, right? And maybe someday it'll come back to the States and do a more extensive tour for us Americans that can't afford a trip right now. *sigh* Soon. The bad never lasts forever, even though it may feel like it, right?
Okay, that's all for now. If you haven't been around to visit lately, then you probably don't know that the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund website got quite a major overhaul and now matches the Audrey Bag site. Go look!
The Children's Fund website links to this fairly new video about Audrey's former work with UNICEF, and it ties in nicely with what the fund and UNICEF are doing to help the children of the world. As Tuesday reminded all the world, not just the United States, what one country does affects us all, and the younger generations have as big a say in what happens to our world as any other generation. For too many years humanity has turned too far inward and cared only about themselves as individuals, and because of that far too many people are suffering. Now that we're beginning to wake up and look around, we need to not only dust ourselves off but pick up those who were tossed to the wayside and forgotten during our darker moments.
If the events of November 4, 2008 taught us anything, it's that change comes from the bottom up. Ordinary people like you and me are the harbingers of change: together we change the world, not the politicians. We can fix what's wrong with our world; it may take a while, a very long while, but it can be done. Audrey believed this with all her heart and worked 'til the end with this belief, and while it didn't happen in her lifetime, maybe it can happen in ours. We won't know unless we try. I have no specific agenda in sharing this with you, besides the hope that you will appreciate all that you do have, and know what power you have in this world.
"Our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared." -President-Elect Barack Obama "Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, the other for helping others." -Time-Tested Beauty Tips by Sam Levenson, read by Audrey to her childen on their last Christmas together
After a little bit of a delay, audreybag.com is officially open for business and ready to take orders. Apparently, the site was delayed by just a couple of days because Luca Dotti was in charge of designing and maintaining the site, so communications had to go from Italy, where Luca is, to Santa Monica, California, where the Children's Fund offices are. So for all you curious types out there who wonder what Luca's up to, now you know. :)
Anyway, go look at the site already! You can sign up for the newsletter the site will release periodically, so you will be notified when the news page is updated and new collections are released. Yes, new collections! So if you were wringing your hands in despair because you couldn't afford any bags from this collection right away, don't worry. There will be roughly two collections per year, plus some one-of-a-kind bags, so there will always be something available for you. Make sure to read the news page while you're visiting, as it has an interview with Sean talking about the inspiration and motivation behind the audreybag, and photos of the bags being made by hand in Italy.
There's some big news today! Huge thanks to sharp-eyed reader Alanna for finding out that the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund is set to release a limited-edition line of handmade Italian purses with Audrey's image on them! There are 12 different designs, with 36 bags of each design being made. So that means a scant 432 bags were made, making it very limited edition. The bags will be available November first, when the official website launches. In the meantime you can read more about the bags and the designs here, and if you'd like to see bigger pictures of all 12 bags, go here and view the PDF press release (link at the top of the page). It has great, full-page pictures of all of the bags, plus dimensions and some information on what the Children's Fund has been up to lately. I can't wait! My favourite is to the left.
I'm starting to feel a little like Holly Golightly here. Is there a rich sugar daddy in the house, willing to buy a poor girl a posh handbag? It's for a good cause! :)
Designs of Hope, a specialized set of fundraisers that take place across America to benefit UNICEF, has come in ahead of schedule in their goal to raise $5 million for orphans with AIDS in five years. This year they held a series of galas which featured the finest in food and fashion, finishing on a high note in Houston, Texas, with a fashion tribute to Audrey Hepburn. Honored at the June 8 event was actress Jane Seymour, for her ongoing humanitarian efforts, and the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund, for their work with women and children affected by AIDS. There was an Audrey-inspired fashion show, as well. You can read more about the Designs of Hope events here, since this was sadly their last year.
So . . . what are you doing tomorrow? If you're in the Los Angeles area, I highly recommend heading down to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and catching Roman Holiday on the side of a mausoleum. It may sound a little creepy to you, but have you ever been to a film screening in a cemetery? More importantly, have you been to a film at Hollywood Forever? It's amazing, to put it simply. If you can, please go! Though I highly recommend getting there early, as the line forms quickly and they do allow only a certain number of people in to a screening. Tickets are $10 and only available on entry, and you're highly recommended to bring a picnic blanket and some good food to go with your great movie.
By now everyone must have heard about the Timeless Audrey exhibit. If you haven't, I shall refresh your memory: it's a traveling exhibit of memorabilia and personal items from Audrey Hepburn's public and private life, put together in an intimate, open show where you're close enough to actually touch certain items if you are so inclined. In fact, Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund executive director Ellen Erwin once said that people were a little too free to touch things -- women would walk off with Audrey's scarves! Anyway, this exhibit was around in New Orleans for a while, then toured Japan extensively for two years. It's being refurbished right now and is set to tour Europe next year, and who knows where it will go next?
But for now, Grace Kelly seems set to step in and fill that gap that the Timeless Audrey exhibit is leaving in its absence. To commemorate the 25 year anniversary of Princess Grace's untimely death, her family is putting together a remarkably similar concept called The Grace Kelly Years. Like Timeless Audrey, The Grace Kelly Years will feature a timeline of Grace's life and many artifacts from her short film career and private life as Princess of Monaco. The exhibit is set to open on July 12 in Monaco, and will then travel to New York in September, where two of Grace's dresses will be sold at auction. The interesting thing (besides the whole similar exhibit bit) is that her dresses will also be sold to benefit the charity of Grace's choice, and is expected to fetch more than the record-breaking amount that Audrey's black column dress from Breakfast at Tiffany's caught at auction last December. It's not recorded as to who gave that estimate, or if both dresses are being sold together or separately, or even where the dresses will be auctioned at, but we'll see if Grace can indeed knock Audrey out of her record-breaking spot. You can read more about Les Annees Grace Kelly (The Grace Kelly Years) here.
Late last year the official site of the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund said that the European leg of the Timeless Audrey Exhibit should be launching sometime in 2007. I wrote Ellen Erwin, executive director of the Children's Fund, to ask if any tour dates had been set as of yet for the tour. She was kind enough to write back, and it looks as if the tour will be delayed a bit. After traveling Japan for two years, the wall and platform props that are an integral part of the exhibit need to be refurbished, so it looks like 2008-2009 for the European tour. This just means more time to save money and plan for an Audrey-centered trip for some of us. ;) We'll have to wait a bit longer to see the exhibit, but it'll look sparkling and brand-new, which is worth waiting for.
In other news, Natalie Portman is again drawing comparisons to Audrey Hepburn. This time it's for the US premiere of Natalie's latest film, Paris, je t'aime. She was sporting a cute black and white mod dress and a very Audrey updo, as you can see in the picture to the right. What do you think?
While Audrey news is still slow going, I did find an article reviewing The Audrey Hepburn Treasures that was very different from the rest. I also wanted to share it because it expresses some of the same concerns a lot of Audrey fans had expressed themselves: how would she feel about having millions of people see her personal belongings? The article starts off by saying that going through Treasures is rather like going through someone's desk drawers after they've died, and you feel guilty and strange doing it. But the author of the article justifies the release of Treasures by pointing out that it was done with Sean's specific consent (his forward in the book further assuages guilt), and that sales of this book will help the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund. It also mentions Sean's own book, Elegant Spirit, as a further okay to this intimate peek at the private Audrey Hepburn.
You can read the full article from Film Buff Stuff here.
I was going to save this for the New Year's post, but since news is slow, we're going to talk about charities. I know this is a hard time of year to think about handing over even more money than you probably already have, and some of us just don't have money to throw around to begin with. But that doesn't mean that you can't do your bit for charity! Giving isn't limited to money, as Audrey herself has shown. Here's some alternative ways to do a good deed without sending yourself to the poorhouse:
1. Read this list! It's from a personal finance website, so they know about working with budgets, and give good tips on how to work with what you have. That includes donating your time or services, which is always desperately needed, and doing some free advertising for the charity of your choice.
2. Use the Internet. More and more Google-type search engines are sprouting up that are actually run for charities. You just search the way you always do, but it helps a charity in need. Some good search engines are GoodTree, GoodSearch, and even GuideStar to search for non-profits.
3. Use your mouse. More and more charities are doing click donations. All you have to do is click a button, and a corporate sponsor donates a set amount for every click. The Hunger Site is a long-lasting example of this, but you can find even more through Charity Click Donation.
4. Think before you donate. It's so easy for someone to drop some change in a bin by the cash register and think "I've done my part!" But how do you know that your donation is actually going towards what you think it's going toward? No one donates their money thinking "I sure hope this donation pays a CEO's salary." Thanks to Charity Navigator, you can search for major charities (5,000 to choose from at this time) and see just how well they operate and what percentage of funds go towards the actual good deeds. While the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund isn't on the site at this time, UNICEF is, and you can see for yourself what a good rating they've received.
Just some ideas to ponder over, especially with New Year's resolutions looming over the horizon as well. And if you can't think of anything you'd really want or need for the Christmas/Hannukah holidays, maybe suggest a donation in your name instead of gifts.
Finally, a video clip from the Breakfast at Tiffany's special edition DVD showing how the great party scene was filmed. (The actress who talks in the studio and who played the laughing/crying woman, Fay McKenzie, apparently made a good impact on director Blake Edwards, because he used her again in his later film The Party.)
Edit: the original clip has been removed; however, you can still learn about the making of Breakfast at Tiffany's here.
Lastly, guess who did the voice of Holly's drunk date, the night she crawled up the fire escape to Paul's flat? None other than Mel Blanc, voice of Bugs Bunny and countless other classic characters! You learn something new every day. (Thanks to IMDb for that one.)
If you've been a little late with your Christmas cards this year, or even if you don't celebrate at all, this might be a good idea for you to consider. Every year for the past couple of years, UNICEF has teamed up with Nokia to provide e-cards for the holidays. You just fill out the card like any other e-card and send it off, but for every card sent, Nokia will donate an undisclosed sum to UNICEF! Another great example of helping charity without dipping into your (possibly limited) funds, especially at the most expensive time of year. Last year, Nokia ended up donating over €50,000. Maybe this year us Audrey fans can get together and raise a bit more for Audrey's charity of choice?* If you're interested, simply click here and follow the instructions. And feel free to send as many cards as you'd like! If you think someone might be offended at the Christmas-y nature, simply let them know it's for a good cause and I promise they can't stay mad.
Thanks to Lotta for reminding me of this.
*No offense to the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund, of course!
A while ago, when I mentioned that audreyhepburn.com had updated, there was mention of UNICEF's annual Snowflake Ball. Since 2004, the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund has given an Audrey Hepburn Humanitarian Award to a deserving person at this ball, and this year the recipient was Amy Robbins. Amy created the Mercury Fund, which helps UNICEF gets funds as early as 24 hours after an emergency, anywhere in the world. You can read more about the event through UNICEF's site, and you can read more about Amy here. Also, the UNICEF snowflake is changing a bit -- it's going to do its part to raise funds for the charity. Starting next year, a donor can pay to have their name engraved on one of the 16,000 Baccarat crystals that adorn one of the two snowflakes (one is in New York, the other in California). You can read more about the snowflakes here.
Since I pass the Salvatore Ferragamo boutique every day on the way home from work, I think it would be fitting to show the ballet flats he used to create for Audrey (and that have been recreated for your modern enjoyment).
If you're interested, the average price for a pair of these flats is $340, and you can find more information here.
To make up for not updating too much lately, I scoured the Internet yesterday (before cooking the best dinner ever eaten) and found lots of great stuff to share.
But the first item comes from the wonderful Franklin, who let us know that Christie's now has the December catalogue up, and it's auctioning 20 Audrey items! I'd last heard there would be the Breakfast at Tiffany's dress and two Charade dresses, but nowhere near around 20 different items. There's actually 21, if you count two photo collections going up that feature portraits of Audrey. Anyway, Christie's is good enough to have good-sized pictures of each item next to a description (and heart-stopping estimate of the sale in British pounds), so you can see just the Audrey items here. And if you're too lazy to look, here's some pictures:
A sketch by Edith Head (most likely one of her assistants, since Edith couldn't draw) of the famous dress. Givenchy sent the patterns and instuctions on creating Audrey's wardrobe to Paramount and the Edith Head troupe and they would make up the dresses. Expected price? £10,000 - 15,000!
The Charade dress, one of my favourites from the movie, minus the bolero jacket she wore with it. Expected price? £8,000 - 12,000!
An Edith Head sketch of a never-used dress for Sabrina. I'm guessing it was supposed to be one of Sabrina's after dresses, before she learned that Givenchy would be designing all of them. Though it does look an awful lot like a dress in Funny Face . . . Expected price? £3,000 - 5,000!
There are still a lot more fantastic things I didn't mention, like unseen photos from Breakfast at Tiffany's taken inside Tiffany's, beautiful magazine covers we've never seen, book mock-ups, lobby cards, and even a batch of letters Audrey wrote to her father and stepmother! I'm wondering who gave those up. Remember, all but the first item listed (the photo batch) will be auctioned off December 5th in London.
Next up is a rather upsetting article. Some of you may have heard that recently a Brazilian model by the name of Anna Carolina Reston died due to complications from anorexia. She suffered for three weeks in a hospital, lapsing into a coma and dying because of the disease. Once or twice in these articles Audrey has come up, mainly to cite some thinner celebrities that may give girls and women unhealthy body images, but this is the first article in that batch to blatantly state as "fact" that Audrey herself had an eating disorder. The full line about it as follows: "Audrey Hepburn was thin due to her publicly known heavy case bulimia, but her body suffered later on tremendously." How sick! I'd love to know where he got this information from, since this is the first I've ever heard of this bulemia. I know Diana Maychick's biography said that Audrey was anorexic, but most people who blindly say that Audrey had an eating disorder don't know anything about her, let alone her starved childhood and the effect that had on her. You can write to the author here and let him know a thing or three about publishing false rumours as resounding facts. (I tried yesterday but the form kept screwing up on me; perhaps you'll have better luck.)
Moving on to happier topics, Gucci has just released a book on their long and illustrious history with a giant (and expensive) picture book. Audrey is featured in it, though I wasn't able to find any pictures as of yet. The book reprints old and newer ads, as well as their most famous and loyal clients sporting their goods. You can read more about the book here, and if you really must have it, you can find ordering information here.
Next up, designer Julien Macdonald recently was awarded an OBE, and chatted to the Queen (of England) about fashion. Audrey Hepburn seemed to have been mentioned an awful lot! Unfortunately, someone decided that a giant, glaring picture of Paris Hilton flashing 98% of her skin went better with the article. Still, it's nice to read how the unstoppable team of Hepburn and Givenchy is still such an influence on modern designers. To read more, click here.
Currently going on in Atlanta, Georgia is the In Love In Paris All-Night Movie Marathon. It features most Audrey-centric films, starting with the film adaptation of Gigi (she originated the role on Broadway, but felt herself too old to play the 15 year old by the time the film was optioned), followed by Funny Face and Ninotchka, a Greta Garbo film. More information can be found here.
And remember how I thought I'd rediscovered the original paper dolls, but with more costumes? Turns out that's a totally different set! Here's the original set. Sometimes the site takes a while to load, but I'd say both sets of dolls are equally good. My only complaint about this set is that it has more generic clothes instead of her film costumes, but at least they're very Audrey-ish clothes and the accessories are better.
Next up, I've found (or rediscovered) the online home of the Audrey Hepburn Children's Home, at Hackensack Medical Center in New Jersey. I think this is the first big event the Children's Fund ever did, and their first tie-in with a children's hospital. Natalie Portman helped break ground for the center and is now the honorary godmother.
If you've ever needed a step-by-step manual telling you how to look like Audrey, then look no further! Actually, maybe you should look a little further. This Wiki How To says that to dress like Audrey Hepburn, you should buy a pink polo shirt and wear it tucked in with jeans or a flaring skirt. That's it! Um . . . Maybe you can help update the page a bit. Oh, and under the Things You Need section, it actually lists "gaudy jewelry." What? When did she ever wear gaudy jewelry -- or even any jewelry, besides her wedding band and sometimes small earrings -- in her life? Weird.
And lastly, a secret guilty pleasure of mine. Have you ever wanted to dress up as Princess Anne or Jo Stockton, or even Eliza Doolittle, but just couldn't manage the jewelry? I know, most of us don't have metalsmith or jeweler friends (I had one and he still couldn't swing it), but now you can buy exact replicas of their jewelry! This is actually a pretty old find, but I always lost the link and could never share, and I think a lot of people still don't know about it. Anyway, Tiaratown has very good replicas of Princess Anne's tiara, necklace and earbobs from the embassy ball, plus Jo Stockton's crystal headgear from her transformation scene in Funny Face. Also available is Eliza's tiara from the ball, and a very strange thing that's supposed to be Holly Golightly's tiara. All in all, these are very well done, and all but the last two come available in silver or gold. So maybe you should start saving your pennies for next Halloween!
I received an email from Ellen Erwin, the Executive Director of the Children's Fund this morning. Since it's short, I'll just copy and paste it for everyone to read:
Just to let you know, the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund website has been recently updated and we are redesigning a brand new flash website for launch next year. Thanks for the mention on your website. Will you let your visitors know that our website is current?Thanks so much and best regards
Isn't that great? I can't wait to see how it will change. And maybe they'll post a full schedule of the exhibit's tour in Europe . . .
In other news, tons of articles are popping up about the upcoming auction of the Breakfast at Tiffany's dress, but I've found one article that stands out from the rest. Besides predicting that the dress will fetch about £70,000 ($126,000), this article says that other Audrey dresses will be auctioned! From Charade and Sabrina, though it doesn't say how many. I don't know, maybe the article is wrong, but maybe not. When the My Fair Lady dress went up, all the attention was on the dress, and no one mentioned that costume sketches from The Nun's Story were being sold as well. Well, either way, here's the full article.
The next article talks about the recent Melbourne races (it's the Australian equivalent of Ascot), and how the Little Black Dress was the most popular item worn there. About halfway down the page it talks about Audrey's role in the history of the dress, but the whole article is definitely worth a read, just to get a better history of the dress. You can read it here.
The last article is also from Australia, where they're preparing an exhibition on the ten most photographed people in the world. Audrey is included! Along with Greta Garbo, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Queen Victoria, Adolph Hitler, Mahatma Gandhi, John F. Kennedy, Muhammad Ali and Elvis Presley. The exhibit runs from December 9 to March 25 at the Bendigo Art Gallery, and includes rare or "lost" photos along with more well known photos. The original article is here, and you can find a little more information, including ticket prices, here, at the museum's site.
