a missed exhibit

I'm busy working on improving the website for you, but while searching for a lost picture, I stumbled across this sweet blog. It's very nice overall, but here's one thing I missed completely: an Audrey exhibit in Paris last year! To coincide with the auction of still more costumes and personal wardrobe, an exhibit was set up at the end of last year in Paris, and the author of Parisian Party of course went. And took very gorgeous pictures, and knows her stuff. I don't want to swipe any of her pictures, so you'll just have to visit her site for yourself. Link directly to the Audrey exhibit here.

Speaking of things I've missed, when the most famous dress in the world, the long black Breakfast at Tiffany's dress, was auctioned in 2006 it was widely publicised when someone wore it. The model for Christie's, seen out and about modeling on the streets, was published everywhere. When Natalie Portman posed in it for Harper's Bazaar, I bought a copy to carefully cut apart, scan and share with you. But for some reason I heard nothing about model Georgia Frost modeling the gown for ES Magazine! Thankfully, I happened to stumble across Style Bubble, who has pictures and a brief write-up for your viewing pleasure.

Hello again

Hello everyone, I hope you had a good holiday, if you celebrate anything. If not, then I hope you enjoyed a day off to laze around in your pajamas all day. :) I'm sorry I've been MIA lately, I was silly enough to try and work two jobs during the holidays. Hit me with a fish the next time I get that ridiculous idea in my head! Thank you for your patience yet again, and here's your bit of post-holiday news.

Christie's had yet another film memorabilia auction on December 19th, but it didn't really seems to make any major news outlets, at least not that I could find. This was very surprising! But here's all of the Audrey Hepburn specific autions for you, since that's what we're interested in:

Lot 0078: a batch of 15 magazines featuring Audrey on the cover, all from the 1950s. The estimated going price was between £400-600, but was actually sold for £312. (That's still a whole lot, though!)


Lot 0079: Sheet music for Moon River, signed by Audrey Hepburn. The inscription reads, "To Al, best wishes, Audrey Hepburn." While the estimated selling price was between £400-600, the final bid was for £1,680!




Lot 080: A knee-length coat and a cream-coloured dress, both made by Givenchy, which Audrey wore in the film Charade. In the Criterion Edition of the film in the commentary, screenwriter Peter Stone mentioned that his wife and Audrey Hepburn were the same size (though Audrey had bigger shoulders), and he would take the clothes that Audrey didn't want for his wife to wear. These two items were taken for Mrs. Stone and are now being sold by her. The estimated selling price for these two items combined was between £10,000-15,000, and the actual selling price was £14,400. Whew!

Since the sale of these particular items didn't make the news, I don't think there's any way of finding out who bought the dress and coat. Whoever it was, they've got a good deal! Unlike the sale of the black dress from Breakfast at Tiffany's, Audrey definitely wore this dress and coat. I hope the new owner(s) wouldn't mind putting it on display for some of us to see, too.

P.S. I was right about which dress would be sold, too!

another Audrey Hepburn dress up for auction

I don't think I've ever seen so many Audrey Hepburn dresses up for auction in such a short period of time! Just this morning it was announced that Christie's would have a film memorabilia sale at its auction house in South Kensington on December 19th, and a dress made for and worn by Audrey in Charade will be up for sale. Unfortunately, Christie's website doesn't have any details about this auction up yet, so I can't find out which dress it is. I'll keep checking, though, and let you know as soon as I find any information.

In the meantime, you can read more about the auction as a whole here, and see some other great pieces that will be up for sale that day.

stars of today channeling the stars of yesterday

Us Weekly's website has a new article up about the celebrities of today channeling the stars of yesterday. Thankfully, there's no mention of Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears here! And, not surprisingly, Natalie Portman is considered yet again to be our generation's answer to Audrey Hepburn, not just for her looks, but for her humanitarian work helping third world women with FINCA International. Don't forget the fact that Natalie donned the most famous little black dress in the world (left) before it was sold at auction, too.

What do you think?

Audrey Hepburn's pink cocktail dress to be on display in Ireland?

I have only found one news source as of yet, but it looks as if the winner of the hot pink cocktail dress worn by Audrey Hepburn during filming of Breakfast at Tiffany's has indeed been identified, despite their request to remain anonymous. According to RTÉ.ie, the new owner of the size zero dress is Newbridge Silverware. The company purchased the dress to display in their new style museum which opens tomorrow in County Kildare.

I'm not doubting the validity of this story per se, and it would be really fantastic to have someone purchase an iconic dress that Audrey actually wore and display it for everyone to see, but I'm just a little wary because no one else is reporting this -- yet, anyway. Has anyone else heard anything about this?

Audrey Hepburn's pink cocktail dress sold for $192,000

Today was the big Christie's auction for yet another round of Audrey Hepburn memorabilia. This time the big seller was a hot pink cocktail dress actually worn by Audrey during filming of Breakfast at Tiffany's, and sold for nearly ten times its estimated selling price of $20,000-30,000 US dollars. The winner of the dress was a European bidder who wished to remain anonymous. If you remember, the same thing happened with the black dress sold last December, and it eventually came out that it was bought by the House of Givenchy, so maybe the identity will be revealed in time.

Also sold today in the same auction was an autographed Sabrina publicity photo, which went for $1,920; a rare photograph of Audrey in Switzerland taken by photographer Sanford Roth, which sold for $720; a photo of Audrey and her Yorkshire terrier Mr. Famous, also taken by Sanford Roth, which sold for $960; and a batch of costumes which included a dress worn by Audrey for the TV movie Love Among Thieves, which sold for $1,920.

When I have a little bit more time (possibly Friday), I'll put up a special page on the website similar to the page I made for the first Christie's auction that will have more detailed information on each item that was auctioned off today, as well as its estimated price and actual selling price. So stay tuned! In the meantime, there are two good articles out about the auction so far: the first is from Rugby Review Today, and the second is from the International Herald Tribune.

new Hepburn book delayed?

The last time I mentioned Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's, it was to note that the release date for the book was May 28th. That apparently hasn't happened, though Amazon and Barnes and Noble still list the release date as May 2007. Well, they've only got two days left! Hopefully this book won't be as delayed as late as the (lovely and cute) Taschen Icons book was last year.

Also, I apologize for the lack of regular updates recently. I've been overfull on work recently and just really needed some time to rest and catch up with myself. Hopefully, I'm all caught up now and can get back to some exciting Audrey news. Remember that her pink Breakfast at Tiffany's cocktail dress goes up for auction on Wednesday! It's bound to exceed the estimated sale price.

Christie's to auction off more Audrey Hepburn memorabilia

Christie's broke records and made international headlines when Audrey Hepburn's most famous little black dress, the iconic black column dress from the opening scenes of Breakfast at Tiffany's, sold for an unheard of £467,200 on December 5 of last year. This year, Christie's hopes to induce another bidding frenzy by auctioning off yet another classic Breakfast at Tiffany's dress at the end of the month. The dress going up for sale on May 30 in New York is Holly's cute little pink cocktail dress, worn in a pivotal scene in the film. Worth noting in this auction is the fact that, unlike the black dress auctioned last December, this pink dress was actually worn by Audrey in the film and possibly even afterward for publicity photos. This dress is expected to fetch between $20,000-30,000. You can read the details for yourself here on the Christie's website (though if you somehow haven't seen Breakfast before, please don't read the Lot Notes at the bottom of the page because it does contain spoilers).

Also for sale in this particular auction is an early Sabrina publicity photo, signed by Audrey herself. The photo is expected to go for $500-700.





A rare photograph of Audrey taken in Switzerland in the 1950s taken by photographer Sanford Roth, expected to sell for $600-800.









A Cecil Beaton sketch of Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady, signed. Expected to sell for $1,500-2,500.









Another rare photo of Audrey, this time holding her Yorkshire Terrier Mr. Famous. Estimated at $600-800.










And finally, a large batch of various costumes, including a dress made for Audrey for her role in Love Among Thieves (no picture available). The group is expected to sell for $1,000-1,500.

You can read more about the pink dress going to auction here.

And finally, I'd like to give a huge thank you to faithful reader Franklin. He always seems to find the best news, especially concerning auctions, before I can find them! So thank you and your sharp eyes, Franklin.

footage of the City of Joy school; plus, a new Gardens of the World?

Thanks to Ankit's sharp eyes, we can now see video footage of the dedication of the first of many new Indian schools, paid for by Audrey Hepburn's Breakfast at Tiffany's dress. It shows Dominique Lapierre and his wife arriving at the school, plus some children performing songs and dances to celebrate their new school. Dominique himself has a bit to say about Audrey, and the clip also shows the December 2006 auction of the dress in London, plus footage of the lovely Audrey herself in the iconic first scene of Breakfast at Tiffany's. You can go here to view the video (try here or here if the first link doesn't work, since BBC is a little weird about linking to their videos).

The Telegraph from Calcutta, India has a wonderful article about the new school and the Lapierres' work for the children of India. I love the way the article opens, too:

In Sudan, they call a water pump Unicef. And courtesy Audrey Hepburn and her new huckleberry friend, villages in South 24-Parganas and the Sunderbans might soon start calling their primary schools by some other name — Dominique, perhaps.

I'm sorry if I'm boring anyone with this continued coverage of the school opening, but I personally think it's very big news and something Audrey herself would have pushed hard for if she was still here. It meant so much to her, therefore it's important to me.

Lastly, I came across an article today that really only mentions Audrey in passing, but it's still terribly interesting (especially if you're a flower nut, like me). It seems that Janis Blackschleger, who produced Gardens of the World and became quite chummy with Audrey, met up with an Englishman living in California and mentioned that she wanted to do an updated Gardens of the World series. I don't know if others feel the same way, but after watching the series recently myself, I really wished they would have kept making more episodes, even if it had to be without Audrey. It's really an engrossing series (though Audrey did accent the flowers rather nicely), and there are so many more lovely gardens yet to see, plus new flower hybrids being created every day. If you find this sort of thing interesting, you can read more about the new possible series here. Janis herself will be at the Philadelphia Flower Show on March 10 to talk about Irish gardens (what the article above is mostly about), if anyone is in the neighborhood and would like to pick her brain about working with Audrey. :)

"When you were with Audrey you felt prettier, better about yourself and your own possibilities."
-Janis Blackschleger

"Thank you Audrey Hepburn, we love you"

Last night I dreamed that I met Audrey Hepburn in a beautiful garden full of exotic flowers, and we talked about the flowers and saving money for the children. Today I wake up to find that the first of 15 planned schools for the City of Joy Aid has opened! If you remember from earlier news posts, the money from the Christie's auction of Audrey's Breakfast at Tiffany's dress raised enough money to build 15 schools for children in India who would otherwise never be schooled at all. The first school opened today in Keoradanga with City of Joy Aid founder Dominique Lapierre present, and will hold about 200 students. It was apparently a very sweet opening, with children singing a welcome song and Dominique offering a red rose to a picture of Audrey sporting the dress (below). You can read more about the school's opening here, and more about the Lapierre's school plans here. Long-term plans for the City of Joy Aid can be found here.










Audrey must be so proud.

Audrey Hepburn's little black dress does big things

On December 5, 2006, Audrey Hepburn's little black dress from Breakfast at Tiffany's sold for a record-breaking £467,200. The dress, one of three copies made by Givenchy for the film, was donated by Hubert de Givenchy himself to friend Dominique Lapierre, a French author who also runs City of Joy Aid with his wife. The proceeds from the sale -- the dress was bought by the house of Givenchy, now owned by LVMH -- were to go entirely to City of Joy, and already the results are showing themselves. 15 educational centers for children are set to be opened in India from this money, and one center in Lakshikautapur is currently being built. These centers are designed to teach children English when they would normally never see the inside of a school, and would instead be bullied into mob work. You can read more about the amazing Lapierres and their work here, and you can read a smaller article about other works City of Joy does here.

a new Audrey Hepburn auction!

While not nearly as exciting as the recent Christie's auction of Audrey's classic Little Black Dress from Breakfast at Tiffany's, there will be a new auction of Audrey memorabilia coming at the end of January 2007. This auction is of Audrey's contract to appear in Two For the Road, and is part of a large batch of celebrity contracts and memos to benefit the Motion Picture and Television Fund, an insurance fund for artists. While the website for the auction house, Swann Auction Galleries, has some scans of other documents, there doesn't seem to be any available of Audrey's contract. I did, however, sign up for a PIN number, so if I see anything, you will. :) You can learn more about the auction and some other articles up for sale here.


And speaking of auctions, I accidentally found out who sold Audrey's Ascot dress from My Fair Lady back in 2004! Apparently Bill Mack was quite the film memorabilia collector a few years ago, and has been selling off some of his collection in recent years. He's sold the gorgeous black and white Cecil Beaton designed Ascot races dress, and recently sold the Cowardly Lion's original costume from The Wizard of Oz -- made from real lion pelts! Coincidentally, the oversized rug sold for $826,000; nearly the price of the Breakfast at Tiffany's dress after the premiums. You can read more about Bill Mack here.

Audrey Hepburn: The Model of Style and Desire

News is pretty slow today. Real slow, in fact. So I'm afraid I only have one thing to share, but it's a very excellent article. It starts off talking about the Christie's auction, and how the bidding frenzy and record-breaking price showed that the allure of Audrey is still going strong 13 years after she left us, and gives an excellent biography as well. To read the whole article, click here. (It's a bit long, but well worth the read.) There's one error, though: towards the end the author goofs and lists Sean Ferrer as Audrey's husband. Please, no Oedipus references.

Surprise! Guess who bought Audrey Hepburn's Little Black Dress?

None other than Givenchy himself! You'll forgive me for jumping straight into things, but I never was good at holding in good news. Anyway, it's been revealed today that the winning bidder on Audrey's little black dress from Breakfast at Tiffany's was none other than its creator (and model's best friend) Hubert de Givenchy. He had originally donated it to Dominique Lapierre, the founder of City of Joy, a charity helping impoverished children in India, and now he has bought it back again, putting himself out £450,000 along the way. Personally, I'm shocked but extremely happy. We don't have to worry about some tartlet parading about in the dress on her way to a nightclub, or some other horrible fate. It actually brought a tear or two to my eye when I found this out, since it was so touching that Givenchy would go through all of this to help a friend. No wonder Audrey loved him so.


The next article is also about the dress, this time from a woman who made sure to see the dress in person at Christie's shortly before it was sold. It's a very good article about the thrill of seeing this piece of history in person, and she also gives a good history of the Little Black Dress, along with quotes from modern designers who help women decide on what makes a good LBD. You can read the whole article here.

The last article is yet another piece on Audrey's lasting power (along with a mini biography), but what made it stand out to me is the fact that it claims that Paramount is coming out with a new Audrey boxed set just in time for the holidays. This one is supposed to be a 5-disc DVD set called The Elegance Collection, yet I can't seem to find any information on it. It's possible the author was confused and was thinking about The Audrey Hepburn Collection, but that's a 3-disc set. Either way, the article provides a quick rundown on all of the new Audrey merchandise to come out lately, so if you weren't sure what to get the Audrey fan in your life, that might be worth looking into.

speculation on the new owner of the Little Black Dress

The identity of the winner of the Christie's auction still hasn't been revealed, and speculation is rife over who could have possibly won the dress. While a non-famous person won the famous Ascot dress from My Fair Lady a few years ago, everyone seems convinced that only a well-known European could have won the dress. The only information Christie's will release about the telephone bidder is that they were European, not even giving a sex to the winner. Daily India seems pretty convinced that one of two famous footballer wives has won the dress; either Victoria Beckham or Coleen McLoughlin. While Victoria's publicist says they have no idea whether she was involved in the bidding, that hasn't stopped people from guessing her to be the lucky winner. And they also believe that she would have the nerve to wear the dress, too! At 24" (61cm), the waist of the dress is a little more accomodating than Audrey's earlier measurements of 20" (50.8cm), but people are still incredulous anyone could fit in that dress. Seems to me too many people have been wearing it! It was even being worn by a model during the bidding (see below).



Thanks yet again to the lovely Lotta, there is some video of the auction to share with you. This clip from the BBC was filmed live during the bidding, and it is actually very exciting to see. You can feel the tension in the room once bidding got to £350,000. If you'd like to see more videos about the auction, or videos from before the auction, simply go here. There are some great, informational newsclips there for you.

Next up is a really fantastic article on the City of Joy charity, the recipients of the £410,000 the dress raked up. Apparently Dominique Lapierre, the founder of City of Joy, is one of the nicest, most kind human beings you could ever find, and if Audrey were around for this auction today she couldn't be prouder of how things turned out.

Last up for tonight is a great article about the Holy Three of women's fashion: Grace Kelly, Jackie Kennedy and Audrey Hepburn. Each woman fit a different niche in the fashion world, and none of them can be replaced or replicated. All in all a really great article, and it nicely points out the difference between fashion icon and trendsetter. Read more here.

more on the Breakfast at Tiffany's dress, plus Sabrina

Now that the immediate rush from the Christie's auction is over, news stories are focusing more on the details. For example, this story from The Guardian tells us that there were two warring bidders in the auction room. When the bidding hit £360,000, then the mysterious telephone bidder entered and eventually won at £467,200. When the winner was announced, the room burst into wild applause. Wouldn't it have been so exciting to have been there?

The second interesting article comes from The Scotsman, and while it says a lot of the same things that most other articles do at the beginning, it talks more about Audrey's career and her impact on fashion. But my favourite bit is at the very end:

Hepburn's image is omnipresent to this day, 13 years after the actress's death. Everyone, from Victoria Beckham to Coleen McLoughlin, wants to emulate her elegance. You could have all the money in the world - you could even own (and fit in to) all of Hepburn's lovely frocks - but that still wouldn't buy you Audrey's own elusive style.

Wonderful, isn't it? And since the auction has been receiving so much attention (well, it did break records!), more people are curious about Audrey and have come looking for information. Maybe this auction will make a few new Audrey fans, in addition to helping children!


Lastly, a new gallery is finally up! Here's the Sabrina gallery, with 127 production stills and candids from the set. I'm sure more will be coming, too. I'm trying to keep my pictures as organized as possible, but it's just so hard when you've got over 3,000 pictures on your hard drive needing to be categorized, and you keep dumping more in on top of that old mess! But it will get sorted, and eventually I'll have every photo tagged and cross referenced to make it even easier on you to find what you want. In the meantime, enjoy Sabrina.

more about the Audrey Hepburn items auctioned today

Christie's was very good about posting the final bids on all of the items sold today in the film and entertainment auction, so I was able to make this for your enjoyment. It's a special page with the lot pictures of all 31 Audrey-related items, a short description of each item, its estimated selling price and the price it actually fetched. It's all in British pounds, because I'm not spectacular at math and I'd rather just get this up there than sit around with a calculator all night. A temporary link will also be put up on the index page of the site.

And now, a little more about the sale today! First off, I think it's a little tragic that the little black dress from Charade was overshadowed by the Breakfast at Tiffany's dress, especially when you consider the fact that Audrey actually wore the Charade dress in the film, whereas the BAT dress wasn't in the film (and may not have been worn by her at all). But still, the Charade dress managed to exceed its modest estimate of £8,000-12,000 and sell for an impressive £153,600.

And if you'd like to learn a little more about the beneficiaries of the Givenchy dress, you can learn more about City of Joy here. I think Audrey would have been very pleased to know her name and imaged helped underprivileged children so much.

Next up, I found a good, short video on the UK Yahoo about the auction, filmed shortly before bidding began. Most of the interview is about Audrey and Givenchy and the dress, but at the end they do mention Michael Caine's glasses from his Harry Palmer films. You can watch it here.

And lastly, the rumors are already swirling as to who the anonymous winner was. Since it was done by telephone and no name has been released, UK papers are already speculating that it might be their two loudest Audrey Hepburn fans, Victoria "Posh" Beckham and Coleen McLoughlin. Both have whole rooms in their manses dedicated to Audrey, and both were rumored to be attending the auction. No news so far, though ... Read more speculation here.

Audrey Hepburn's iconic "Breakfast at Tiffany's" dress sold

If you haven't heard already, the most famous LBD in the world sold this morning in London for $807,000! That's £410,000, well beyond Christie's estimate of £50,000 - £70,000. The dress was won by an anonymous telephone bidder. Since there are so many articles about the auction, I'll just list the best by number and you can click on any and all to read more: 1, 2, 3.

"There are tears in my eyes," said Dominic Lapierre, who runs the charity. "I am absolutely dumbfounded to believe that a piece of cloth which belonged to such a magical actress will now enable me to buy bricks and cement to put the most destitute children in the world into schools."

It's so nice that a charity will benefit from this all, and that they've received much more than they ever expected! This money will do a lot of good. It'd be especially nice if the winner might share the dress once in a while. Even charging admission to view it, if the proceeds went to charity, would be so nice.

But to clarify one thing in these articles: Audrey did not wear this dress in Breakfast at Tiffany's. The one she actually wore is privately owned by Givenchy and will never leave his possession.

While Christie's doesn't have their results page up yet for today's auction, you can see how other recent auctions have done here, and maybe try again tomorrow. Or come back here tomorrow and let me do the work for you. :) I'll also be putting up a page with a picture of each piece of Audrey memorabilia that went up, along with its estimated price and the price it fetched at auction.

the buzz before the bidding

The dress will be up for auction in a little over 24 hours! If you're in the London area, then maybe you could swing by Christie's (85 Old Brompton Road) during their visiting hours and ogle the dress yourself before it's locked away forever by the lucky owner. And if, like most of us, you're not able to view it or the auction in person, you can always watch the auction live online, but you must make an account with them to watch. Also, there are rumors that Victoria Beckham, former Posh Spice and very vocal Audrey fan, will be present at the bidding and may try to nab the dress for herself. Erm...

There's also an article up about the dress, and tells women how to pick the right LBD for them -- just in time for the holidays! Read more here.

And there's a short article about major fashion houses getting into charity work, which you can read here. It mentions Gucci's work with UNICEF, as well as featuring pictures of the Gap's Inspi(red) campaign. (For what it's worth, I still think it's better to just give your money to a charity, rather than buying a cost inflated good that will only give a fraction of the profits to the charity -- usually less than 20% of the price.)

And lastly, I don't remember if I'd posted this before, but you can watch a young Audrey ballet dance in this 4 minute clip from Secret People, a film she made shortly before being cast in Gigi and Roman Holiday.

Edit: video has been removed from YouTube.

Givenchy and the Bird Girl

Not a whole lot going on today (maybe everyone's still shopping?), but I did find a nice article on Givenchy. It talks about his early days and his personal influences, and how he's personally helped to keep Balenciaga alive. To read more, click here. I must say, he looks very good for 79. You can still see the same young man Audrey first met!



Next up is a tiny article about the upcoming dress auction, but it has a nice quote from Givenchy about his reasons for giving it up. You can click here, or just read the quote below:

I am so pleased to be helping this beautiful foundation. I was having dinner with Dominique Lapierre (who founded the charity) and I told him I had one beautiful piece that I would give to him with pleasure. I was sure Audrey would be very happy about it.

Lastly, I've found a really hilarious article talking about all of the great (and not-so-great) Tarzan rip offs throughout the years. Apparently, Rima the Bird Girl is one of them! Well, not as W.H. Hudson wrote her, but when DC Comics got a hold of her in the 70s. The whole article is really fascinating but the story of Rima in comics is really hilarious. To read more, go here -- the Audrey pertinent parts are roughly halfway down the page (scroll until you see the picture below).