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.

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?

updates on the Timeless Audrey Exhibit; plus Natalie Portman

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?

calendars, calendars, calendars

So I wasn't able to find an Audrey calendar the other day. And on Amazon all calendars "ship in 4-6 weeks." By then January will be over! But while I couldn't find any Audrey calendars, I did stumble across some other excellent calendars you might be interested in.

Tushita makes this excellent International Movie Posters calendar, and as you can see, Roman Holiday made the cover as well as the calendar! The entire calendar, in fact, is fantastic, with posters from Metropolis and Citizen Kane, to name a few. Tushita also has a series of Audrey blank journals, with a few Breakfast at Tiffany's designs to choose from (1, 2), a Funny Face design, an Audrey alone 2007 calendar, and a matching agenda. And that's not including the postcards!


Next up is a Little Black Dress calendar, which also features Audrey -- from Breakfast at Tiffany's, of course. If the cover looks a little familiar, then you might have seen a slightly altered version of it floating around the Internet as someone's pop art, but with Audrey's head transplanted.



The Museum of Modern Art's 2007 Movie Posters calendar features a very 60s looking My Fair Lady poster in their great collection.



And lastly, the Film Posters from the 50s calendar features Gigi on the cover (which Audrey should have starred in, since she originated the role), and has a really great Funny Face poster inside, besides just being a great collection in general.

Okay, that's all for calendars . . . I think. Here's a quick article recapping fashion trends in 2006, and Audrey is mentioned at the top of the article for her continued impact on trends, especially with Nicole Ritchie and Natalie Portman recreating her Breakfast at Tiffany's look in a high-profile music video and a high-profile magazine spread, respectively. And of course for those Gap ads and the revival of skinny pants.

Lastly, I've added a review of The Audrey Hepburn Treasures to the website. I know that the cost prevents many people from impulsively buying it, but it seems that a lot of people received a copy for the holidays, so if you have a copy yourself, feel free to leave a review for others. I highly recommend it, personally, but I know some people who are unsure would love to hear from fellow fans who don't impulsively buy all things Audrey and try to pass it off as research. ;)

a verdict on Harper's, a hint at the next photo gallery

There's an article critiquing the November issue of Harper's Bazaar (the one with Natalie Portman in Audrey's dress) here. While the author says good things about the dress and Natalie's short article, she doesn't much care for the rest of the magazine. The reason? The women in it are too thin. Thankfully, she doesn't cast blame with Audrey, but still, it's a glossy fashion magazine -- what were you expecting?

We also have a new submission to the lookalikes page, which you can see here. Don't forget that the lookalikes is totally run by you, the fans, and I don't submit any of my own. So if you know of an actress or other well-known person that resembles Audrey, send your suggestions to us! There may be voting on the lookalikes soon, to rate which ones look the most like Audrey . . .

And lastly, to make up for my spotty updates the past few days and the lack of any good news, here's the Roman Holiday documentary from the special edition DVD. It's very fun to watch!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

*edit* At Ankit's suggestion, I've updated the Moon River Wikipedia entry to properly reflect the Huckleberry Hound reference. I've also taken the liberty of linking Audrey's Wikipedia page to this site, because it couldn't hurt. :) I would have done it sooner, but I thought it was a lot harder to update than it really is.

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!

"Still our Fair Lady," plus "Gardens of the World"

There's a short article talking about Audrey's newfound popularity, especially with the recent Gap ads and the new Treasures book. It's very short (I've told you pretty much all that's in it already), but you can see the full article here.

Next up, thanks to the Audrey Hepburn Circle, I've found that the Gardens of the World miniseries now has their own website up! It's a very Audrey-centric site, and goes more into detail on what's in the new special edition DVD set, but the best part is Audrey's full written introduction to the original series and an interview with her about the series. All in all it's a nice site and definitely worth sharing, so click here to visit for yourself.

The last news article of the day is pretty interesting, actually. According to the New York Post's gossip column, 200 replicas of Audrey's multi-strand pearl necklace from Breakfast at Tiffany's were made and sold for charity. Natalie Portman is supposedly wearing one on the Harper's cover (though it's hard to tell, since you only see the back, just like the dress and the rest of Natalie), and the proceeds went to City of Joy, the same charity that stands to benefit when the B@T dress is sold. Someone's doing well this year! Click here to read the whole story. Below is a high definition picture of the Harper's cover, minus some of the annoying text:


Has anyone seen any alternate pictures of Natalie in the dress and necklace, preferably from the front? It's sort of annoying that they've only shot her from the back.

clarifications on the Harper's dress, "Charade" commentary

A lot of people have been searching for more pictures of Natalie Portman in the Breakfast at Tiffany's dress from Harper's Bazaar and find this picture, thinking it's the front of the dress:


But if you actually look at this dress, then you'll notice that the fabric is completely different, more of a linen than satin (or, more simply, not shiny versus shiny). While Natalie does wear Givenchy in the rest of the photo shoot, there's no way this is the front of the same dress. Also note the stitching across the bodice, which would show on the sides and back of the other pictures. And the fact that her hair and jewelry are different. Just thought I'd point it out, since it's been bugging me. :) And if you're interested, you can see a little bit of the article from Harper's here. The rest you can just read in the magazine aisle of your local bookstore, like I probably will. ;)

Secondly, I finally watched Charade with the commentary on, and it's honestly as fun as watching the movie. It's on the Criterion edition of the movie and it's with screenwriter Peter Stone and director Stanley Donen, and they are hilarious! They're constantly insulting each other (in a friendly way), and have such great stories to tell about the film. I don't want to give anything away, but here's one of my favourite bits:

"Audrey was very tall. How tall was she?"
"Five-eight."
"No!"
"Probably. When she was standing on her money."

There hasn't been much Audrey news lately, but tomorrow there might be a large photo gallery coming up for your enjoyment . . . Also, if you want to win a good prize in the next contest, you'd better go vote on what you want! So far we're getting one vote for each suggestion (and multiple voting is disabled).

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. :)

Sean speaks about "Enchantment" and "Treasures"

I think this is the first time I've heard Sean Ferrer talking about Donald Spoto's biography Enchanted, and why he chose not to be involved in The Audrey Hepburn Treasures. The article talks briefly about why Spoto decided to toss his hat into the ring, since so many biographies on Audrey already exist, and turns from there to a phone interview with Sean from his Children's Fund office in Santa Monica. I think this quote is the most telling:

Sean said he had been aware of his mother's extramarital affairs, so Spoto's book would be no surprise for him.

Does this include the Robert Anderson affair? And if so, does he know about Anderson's book about the affair already? I'm about a quarter of the way through it so far, but my assistant has skipped ahead, and the book is, um, pretty steamy. I certainly know I wouldn't want to read that about my own mother. Anyway, the full article can be found here.

The next item is kind of silly, and flogging a dead horse, now that the Gap ads are done. But here's a member of an older generation giving her take on the commercials and why she likes them.

Next up is a short You Tube clip from Access Hollywood, which talks briefly (14 seconds, to be exact) about the B@T dress going up for auction and Natalie Portman wearing it for Bazaar. If you look closely, and if you've watched these clips already, then you'll notice that the interview was on the same day they paraded the dress around Tiffany's and had a press conference about the upcoming auction. There's also a new picture of her wearing the dress that I hadn't seen before.

(Picture found at natalieportman.com, hosted by moi. I hope they don't mind!)

And finally, more updates on the site. I've added a lot more quotes to the quotes page, both from Audrey and about her, and there's also a review of Funny Face up.

Natalie Portman is Audrey's "clone," but Audrey was a Martian anyway

I've seen these articles come into my inbox quite a few times now, so I thought I'd share. Apparently Natalie Portman wearing Audrey's dress is a big deal, leading many to call her our generation's Audrey Hepburn and Audrey's clone. Unlike some starlets, Natalie has openly admitted that she could never fill Audrey's shoes and doesn't even want to try, which is nice and refreshing and really what people need to hear. She has also said she would never play Audrey in a biopic, so get that idea out of your head. Audrey clone or not though, we could do a lot worse on role models for young women. To view the article, click here.

Another article I'd like to share starts out as a review for the Spoto biography, but quickly morphs into something completely different. It's a sort of lovesong for Audrey and her uniqueness, and it's very lovely. The author even throws in a brief -- but very good -- biography of Audrey at the end, which would make it very hard for any casual reader to not be curious about her afterwards. The article can be found here.

The last article is just a quick add-on. Its main point is that Audrey always seems to be in style, which is nice, but I was personally very intrigued by the last half of the piece. It compares Audrey with the starlets of today, especially the D-listers like Paris Hilton (may I never mention her name again) and Jessica Simpson. The interesting part is the author's hypothesis that even Audrey herself wouldn't have emerged unscathed from the tabloid machines today, who take any innocuous happening and turn it into the basest trash. That's something I've always wondered about myself, really. You can read the full story here.

And if this doesn't make you mad (or ill), nothing will.


I know it's old, but it never ceases to be irritating. What was it Mag Wildwood said about "a piece of cheap Hollywood trash"?

Gap's sales "still skinny," Nat Portman sports the auction dress

After the media blitz last month with the commercial, Gap's sales are still slumping over last year's. I find this hard to believe with all the attention they've been getting (unless Audrey fans are staying away in droves), and the article did say that the poor Gap did make $1.46 billion, so I'll keep the tiny violin in my pocket. Still, how do you feel, knowing that the Gap specifically used Audrey to sell a product and that it possibly didn't work? For the Gap, I mean. Plenty of people have been intrigued by Audrey, but not so much about skinny pants. The whole article can be seen here, though there's not much I haven't already mentioned.

Another big deal is the fact that Natalie Portman can be seen sporting the soon-to-be-auctioned long black dress from Breakfast at Tiffany's on the November cover of Harper's Bazaar (out October 20th). I'd been saying that the dress modeled in other articles, with the side slits up to the arse, obviously isn't the same dress Audrey wears in the movie, and this article says that the dress being auctioned in December is "one of three versions" made for the film. So one dress had side slits, one didn't . . . and another one was also slightly different? Very interesting. Here's a picture of Natalie on the cover:


And you can read the full article here.