The Ultimate Little Black Dress

Have you even wondered about the effect of a woman in a stunning little black dress? She can captivate a man in an instant...but what about the captivating the hearts of millions?

I fell in love with Audrey Hepburn the first time I saw Breakfast At Tiffany's when I was teenager. I remember watching the movie with my mom and I was fascinated by her face, which I though was perfect. I loved how lost Holly Golightly seemed...Oh, the fabulous Hubert de Givenchy fashions and Tiffany jewellery didn't detrack either. I became a fan and peppered my mom with questions of all sorts. What other movies was she in? Can we rent them? Is she still alive? Tell me about her? My mom answered my questions and allowed me to rent Sabrina, Roman Holiday and such; said that no she had died only that year and that she had been the UNICEF International Goodwill Ambassador. Later I learned Audrey Hepburn had lived under the Nazi regime and helped out with the Resistance during the war. Grateful to the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration for the food she received when liberation came helped her to get involved with UNICEF later in life.

But, I digress, this entry is about a little black dress. More specifically, one of three evening gowns of black Italian satin designed by Hubert de Givenchy for Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in the 1961 Paramount film Breakfast At Tiffany's, the sleeveless, floor-length gown with fitted bodice embellished at the back with distinctive cut-out décolleté. A dress famous in its own right, inspiration to many fashion designers the world over.

This dress has been given by Hubert de Givenchy to his friends Monsieur and Madame Dominique Lapierre to raise funds for their charity City of Joy Aid. In a recent interview with Harper's Bazaar, Givenchy told Sarah Bailey that since Audrey's death in 1993, he had donated key pieces from his collection to raise money for disadvantaged children around the world... in an attempt to continue the spirit of his late friend's work for UNICEF. When he recently dined with French writer Dominque Lapierre, whose 'City of Joy Aid' charity has been providing aid to the poorest of the poor in India for 25 years, Givenchy decided it was time to release the last Holly Golightly dress for auction - his own....
(excerpt from Christie's Lot 111, Dec. 5, 2006)

The price, paid by a telephone bidder, was almost six times the highest pre-sale estimate. Including the buyer's premium - a fee typically added to a winning bid by the auctioneer - the final tab came to more than $1 million Cdn.

A beautifully designed dress by a world famous haute couture designer worn by an iconic actress who's heart was open to the world's poorest sold for $900,000 and that money will soon build clinics, schools, rehabilitation centers and hospital boats for the very poor in India. A nice circle and I believe Audrey would approve.