Audrey Hepburn Gown to be Auctioned for Charity

LONDON, July 26, 2006 -- The iconic black gown worn by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film "Breakfast at Tiffany's" will be auctioned for charity later this year.

In the opening scenes of the movie, Hepburn's character, Holly Golightly, is wearing the gown as she emerges from a taxi with her brown-bag breakfast to ogle diamonds and luxury goods in the storefront windows of Manhattan's Tiffany & Co.

The gown, designed by Hubert de Givenchy, is expected to fetch $130,000 at the Dec. 5 auction, Christie's said Wednesday.

Proceeds will benefit City of Joy Aid, a charity that provides relief to impoverished children in India. The founders of the charity received the gown as a gift from Givenchy.

The Parisian couturier was famous for dressing the most glamorous women of the 1950s and 1960s, including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Princess Grace of Monaco.

He designed Hepburn's wardrobe for many of her films, including "Sabrina" and "Funny Face," a movie about the French fashion world. He considered Hepburn as his muse, and her willowy frame, long neck and intelligent face became hallmarks of 1960s beauty.

Images of Hepburn dressed as Golightly - with gloves, an elaborate pearl choker and trademark cigarette holder - still endure.

Hepburn won an Academy Award for her performance in 1953's "Roman Holiday," co-starring Gregory Peck.

She went on to star in more than 20 films before becoming a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. She died in 1993.

Her movies remain popular favorites, and the "Breakfast at Tiffany's" dress itself continues to inspire. Givenchy head designer Riccardo Tisci recreated the famous gown's silhouette for the label's 2006 autumn/winter line - including its cutout crescent-shaped back.

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