Audrey Hepburn’s Dress Is To Be Sold Under The Hammer

Called by Audrey Hepburn as her lucky dress, the ivory lace gown was given to Hepburn’s mother, Ella van Heemstra, who in her turn gave it to a friend living in America. The notorious dress has been kept in a box at the bottom of a wardrobe, until the family took decision to sell it. Hepburn’s dress is going under the hammer at Kerry Taylor Auctions, the same auctioneers who vended the famous dress that was worn by the Duchess of Cambridge to her university fashion show in 2002 for £78,000.

Kerry Taylor said:

This beautiful lace dress is important because not only was it worn in the film Roman Holiday but was also worn to collect the Oscar itself. It is the only time in the history of Oscar dresses that this ever happened to my knowldege. The demure white gown seems also sculpted to fit the willowy graceful figure of Audrey. The original dress was designed by Edith Head for the film, but for the Oscar night – Audrey altered the bodice – in essence she Givenchy-fied it!”

As I’ve mentioned before, the lace gown has been valued at £40,000 to £60,000, but taking into consideration that in 2009 auction of Hepburn dresses gradually gained almost triple the predicted value – collecting over £270,000 , I dare say that the dress would be ultimately sold at higher price.

Audrey Hepburn’s lace dress was created by Edith Head and was one of her latest dresses for the actress. The catch is that soon after Roman Holiday filming was finished Hepburn met couturier Hubert de Givenchy in Paris. Actually Givenchy thought he would dress the actress for the Oscar Ceremony, but exactly Edith Head designed Hepburn’s gown, they say couturier was more than angry with that fact. However, for her next film Sabrina Hepburn asked that Givenchy provide costumes for her to wear despite the fact that there was an official costume designer of the film. For her further works, Hepburn had it written into her contract that only Givenchy would be allowed to design her costumes. One must note that their collaboration was just gorgeous! Oh my God, I adore this woman’s style!!!

The auction will be held on Tuesday November 29 at 2pm, La Galleria, 30 Royal Opera Arcade, Pall Mall, London.

Follow Us

Become a Fan on Facebook

1. LinaAimeti Says:
   December 26th, 2011 at 3:24 am

   :)