Audrey Hepburn's little black dress on display in Harrod's

Audrey Hepburn may have worn many little black dresses in her life, but that's sort of what she's known for, isn't it? Her little black dress with the sequined fringe that she wore in Charade (which was recently auctioned off, coincidentally) is now on display in Harrod's department store as part of their Harrod's Timeless Luxury promotion. It will be on the fourth floor at the Georgian Restaurant in the Little Black Dress Exhibition, along with other famous LBDs. You should hurry, since it looks like the display will only be up through mid-October. You can read more about it here.

"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.

affordable Audrey style -- and are the new Wayfarers out already?

News is still very slow here -- is everyone on vacation but me? But there is a new boutique in Palo Alto, California, which has a very prominent Audrey style. While their website is still pretty bare bones for now, Vian Hunter is already making a name for themselves with their affordable, chic women's clothes. There's even an LBD (that's little black dress, for those of you who might be out of touch) named the Audrey! If you live nearby and stop in for a peek, you might even catch a glimpse of Audrey herself -- rather, a film of hers playing. And to make up for the website still being under construction, they have a printable colouring book with their designs to download, completely free. Information thanks to InsideBayArea.com.

And I've been breathlessly awaiting the new (and hopefully not improved) Ray-Ban Wayfarers. Last I heard, they were coming out at the beginning of 2007 amid much fanfare and inflated prices, but some online retailers claim to already have them. Among those selling the New Wayfarers: Sunglass Hut, for $89.95 ($139.95 for a special tortoiseshell frame); and Nordstrom's, black frame only, for $89.00.

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.

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.

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 . . .

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).

more news from audreyhepburn.com

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.

"It's just another form of expression"

I've been thinking up a new project for the site, and hopefully tomorrow it'll be up and running. It actually would have been today, but certain programs decided to be fussy today, so tomorrow it is. (Thanks, Adobe.) Anyway, people from all over the world come and visit the site, and they seem to be a little shy about speaking up on the site, so maybe the language barrier has something to do with it. On this new page, people can talk about why they love Audrey and what makes her so special in any language they like, and it will be posted completely unedited for anyone to read, along with the author's favourite picture of Audrey. This way other visitors who may not be comfortable with English can still get the message about why Audrey is still so loved today, and maybe your words will make a new fan! So start thinking in any and all languages you know, and tomorrow will have the information you need to start sharing your thoughts.

Other than that, the contest page is now set up for the next contest. Since so many people voted in the poll, I figured the most fair way to choose a winner would be by drawing again. This contest is open to anyone in the world, as long as they can receive a package, though I must point out that the Gardens of the World special edition seems to only be out in Region 1. If that's not the case, please let me know! But if that is the case and you're not in Region 1 or don't have a Region 1 DVD player, maybe you could check your computer. Most newer models can play any region DVD, so that might be an option for you. Oh, and second prize is the new Taschen book, which actually isn't out yet, like I'd previously thought. Amazon changed their page (again), and when I checked at my local bookstore I ended up talking to the guy who orders all things Taschen and he said that they hadn't shipped yet, but they should be shipping out around the end of November. So by the time the contest is over and winners are announced and contacted, the book should be available.

On to other news! I found an article about a Givenchy designing jewelry for Sotheby's, and after some searching, I found that this Givenchy is James Givenchy, nephew to Audrey's great friend and designer Hubert de Givenchy. I guess high class talent runs in the family! To learn more about James, go here.


Next up, Liza Minelli's frog of an ex-husband, David Gest, is claiming that he was once chummy with Audrey and Sean. Apparently, he's going to be on a UK celebrity reality show, and he was bragging to a co-star about being best friends with Sean and having Audrey cook him dinner once. I'm just rolling my eyes, but you can judge for yourself here.

I got bored today and started wandering the Internet, like I always do, and found a page on the VH1 website about The Audrey Hepburn Story. There's really no information on it, but there is a trailer for the biopic on this page, and I'd never seen it before. I think I vaguely remember seeing a commercial for the special before it aired on ABC back in the day, but never a full trailer. I think it's sort of telling that the entire first half of the trailer has people talking at "Audrey," or they cut away before she opens her mouth. At just about the halfway point the trailer mentions Audrey winning an Oscar, and Jennifer Love Hewitt's first words as Audrey are, "An Ohskar, EEEEE!" It quickly goes downhill from there. If you're morbidly interested, then click here.


Speaking of, if you really really want to waste 3 hours of your life, the Women's Entertainment Channel (WE) is showing The Audrey Hepburn Story this month. You can view airtimes here, as well as seeing what better Audrey films are playing, and when.

For the last bit of news for the day, the Phoenix Art Museum just opened a new exhibit called "After Dark: 100 Years of the Evening Dress." While the article talks about Audrey and her iconic LBDs (Little Black Dresses), it's unclear on whether any actual Audrey clothing is in the display. The original article is here, and I've found a little more information (and a picture of one beautiful dress) here, at the museum's actual website. Even if Audrey memorabilia isn't included, it would still be a great exhibit and something worth seeing.



P.S. Regular reader Ankit posted this in response to the "Keats or Shelley?" post. Say it ain't so! Well, I guess now we have the answer to both questions.

Harper's Bazaar scans

It turns out the drugstore up the street does carry Harper's, along with other chi-chi magazines you wouldn't expect next to trashy romance novels. I decided to flip through the November Natalie issue real quick just to see what all was in it, and I found an extra little article that no one seems to have mentioned. So I suffered and bought the magazine just to razor out the pages and scan it for everybody. Actually, it wasn't all that bad at $3.99 -- I think Mad Magazine nearly costs that now, and it's about a quarter the size of Harper's. And now you all know that I read Mad on a regular basis. Right.

First, the letter from the editor talking about Audrey, the dress, and those necklace reproductions I'd mentioned before (click any picture to view it full sized):




And next up is the full Natalie Portman article, which is actually disappointingly short, and has no other pictures than the ones we've all seen. But still, here's everything:










That's all!

"Charade" screengrabs! Plus, a top ten villain and the Little Black Dress turns 80

I promised a picture gallery today and I delivered! (But just barely.) The latest picture gallery is a Charade screengrab gallery with 633 lovely stills for you, including a few from the theatrical trailer.


Click here for the rest of the goodies.

Next up, chron.com came out with a list of the Top 10 Truly Terrifying Performances, and Alan Arkin's neurotic psychotic terrorizing Audrey is on the list! So if you're wandering around the Internet on Halloween night and can't think of what to do, maybe you could watch Wait Until Dark. (Which is what we're going to do now.) Or, if you read this on November first and want to continue your Halloween hangover, watch it anyway! With the lights off, if you please. To see the full list, click here.



Last up for tonight, the timeless Little Black Dress turns a classy 80 years old. Starting with Coco Chanel in 1926, the LBD has gone through many incarnations throughout the years, but it's one of the main reasons why Audrey is remembered in the fashion world -- especially with Breakfast at Tiffany's and Holly's two famous black dresses. It's nice to see that some beautiful things never go out of style, no matter how bizarre (and maybe ugly?) fashion can get at times. See the full history of the LBD here.

Apologies, plus Natalie's reason for wearing the "Breakfast at Tiffany's" dress

Firstly, I need to apologize. I'd promised pictures yesterday and today, but the building I work in caught fire today while we were in it, so I'm a little tired and smelly and choky from smoke. Tomorrow, I promise! Thank you for being patient.

Second, an article has come up saying that Natalie Portman decided to wear the Breakfast at Tiffany's alternate dress that will be auctioned soon in the hopes that it would drum up more interest for the dress, therefore earning more bids and raising more money for charity. I have nothing against Natalie and I even sort of like her, but isn't it a little vain to think that you wearing the dress would interest more people than Audrey Hepburn herself? Maybe I'm just tired and smelly. Anyway, here's the link to the full article.

More pictures of Natalie Portman in Audrey's dress

I found another short article on Natalie Portman wearing Audrey's Breakfast at Tiffany's dress (actually, one Audrey didn't wear), which you can find here. It has a couple more pictures of Nat in the dress, including a full-length which shows her wearing ugly shoes. They look like deck shoes, but with a heel. Ick.

The next article is actually about Italian shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo. Audrey discovered him early in her career and was a loyal customer (he was responsible for a great deal of her chic flats, which are still wildly popular today), and after building a large celebrity clientele, he is being honored on Rodeo Drive. His name on a plaque will be added to other famous designers on a sculpture at the corner of Rodeo and Dayton Way. You can see more information here.

Lastly, here's a quick article on the two latest Audrey books out (though it wrongly cites Audrey Hepburn: A Life In Pictures as a new book). What makes it worth pointing out, though, is the beginning of the article, which speculates that maybe the reason why Audrey is still so popular today, and is even experiencing a revival after the Gap exposure, is because she's such a breath of fresh air after hearing about the Paris Hiltons of the world for so long. Maybe the public is tired of looking, reading, and listening to trash and would rather see a rose. Here's a hint, though: if you ignore her and stop paying her to appear places, she will disappear. And if I have to tell you that I'm talking about Paris and not Audrey, then you're at the wrong website, buddy. The full article is here.

P.S. I'm sorry I didn't get to post any picture galleries today. Maybe after work tomorrow. :)