Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the Man Who Made an Icon

Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the Man Who Made an Icon

By far the most iconic image in the film adaptation of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” is of Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly, strolling down 5th Avenue in the early, empty hours of the morning in a long black evening gown. As she pauses in front of the windows at Tiffany & Co., the gown, her jewels, enormous sunglasses and cup of coffee tell the audience that this is an elegant, mysterious woman who clearly has yet to go to bed. If it’s possible for a piece of fabric to encapsulate everything that is glamor, the gown from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” does just that.

Hubert de Givenchy, the couturier responsible for this iconic moment in film history, was born eighty-five years ago today in northern France. While he had found success as a haute-couture fashion designer in post-WWII Paris, it was his collaborations with Audrey Hepburn that vaulted him into stardom.

Legend has it that Hepburn, intrigued by Givenchy’s straightforward, elegant designs, contacted his atelier and set an appointment to discuss costumes for her eponymous role in “Sabrina.” Audrey Hepburn was still relatively unknown across the Atlantic Ocean at the time, and Givenchy readily agreed to meet with her, under the impression that he was meeting Katherine Hepburn, who was no relation to Audrey but was an enormous star at the time.

After the initial misunderstanding, Givenchy went on to provide Audrey’s costumes for “Sabrina” and “Breakfast at Tiffanys,” and shared an Oscar nomination with Edith Head for their work on the classic Hepburn musical, “Funny Face.”

Several copies were made of Hepburn’s black evening gown for the “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” shoot, and Givenchy auctioned his personal copy at Christies in 2006 to benefit the City of Joy, a charitable foundation based out of India. The dress was expected to sell for just under $140,000, but when the final gavel came down, it had sold for over $900,000.

Ricardo Tisci, who is now the head designer at the house of Givenchy (Hubert retired in 1995), said at the time of the gown’s auction, “That dress was the first guide to my career at Givenchy…because it’s very sensual but at the same time very severe. It was in 1961, and this dress is in a way very ’60’s. The front is severe, elegant, very clean, but at the back there is this very interesting neckline, somewhere between ethnic and Parisian: a softness that other designers in that time didn’t have.”

It may have whispers of the ’60s, but the dress is truly timeless. Year after year, women of all budgets and sizes turn to black dresses, strands of pearls and over-size sunglasses in an attempt to capture a moment of cinematic glamour for themselves. It’s a testament to the enduring power of film and design, as well as a couturier whose work caught hold of the collective imagination and never let it go.

So I said, what about “Breakfast at Tiffany’s?” Share your thoughts on film, fashion and design in the comments below!

Image by Luiz Fernando / Sonia Maria.