AUDREY HEPBURN: AUCTION OF HER POSSESSIONS IN LONDON

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

I’ve adored AUDREY HEPBURN since I was little. I was inconsolable when she passed away.

We have very different body types (mine’s like SCARLETT JOHANSSON) but she was a great iconic style inspiration for me. The supreme elegance and quintessential glamour that she possessed were qualities that I’ve always admired about her.

God, what I wouldn’t give to get my hands on some of those clothes. Even though they would never fit me. I’d just like to own something that belonged to her.

Maybe MARILYN MONROE will have another auction of her personal effects some time in the future.

I can only dream…

Dating from 1953 to the late 1960s, the collection includes more than 30 outfits worn by Ms. Hepburn, with several pieces by her favourite designer HUBERT DE GIVENCHY.

The legendary actor met Monsieur Givenchy in 1953 during the filming of SABRINA. They formed a long term friendship, with the designer creating nearly all of the outfits for her subsequent films.

The sale will include a blue cloqué silk cocktail dress from GIVENCHY’S Autumn/Winter 1966 collection, estimated at £10,000 to £15,000, a black silk dress which Ms. Hepburn wore in publicity photographs for the 1962 film PARIS WHEN IT SIZZLES, also expected to fetch up to £15,000 and a black CHANTILLY lace cocktail dress which she wore in the 1966 film HOW TO STEAL A MILLION, estimated at between £8,000 and £12,000.

The collection, which is being auctioned by a close friend of Ms. Hepburn’s to whom she gave many of her outfits, also includes designs by VALENTINO and the ELIZABETH ARDEN dress she wore when she met her first husband, actor/director MEL FERRER in 1953.

Also up for sale are a selection of belts and hats worn by Ms. Hepburn and a collection of letters in which she describes her early film career, her engagement in 1952 to industrialist James Hanson and her time spent filming ROMAN HOLIDAY in 1953.

The items will be sold by KERRY TAYLOR AUCTIONS over three days this DECEMBER at the ROYAL OPERA ARCADE on PALL MALL, LONDON.

KERRY TAYLOR said: “We are very excited to have been chosen to handle this historic auction. Hardly any AUDREY HEPBURN has come onto the market in the past and the few pieces that have went on to sell for six figures.”

“AUDREY HEPBURN is one of the most iconic fashion figures of the 20th century and to have her collection here, to be able to handle it, catalogue and photograph it is a real privilege. GIVENCHY’S elegant simplicity combined with AUDREY’S sense of style and beauty were an unforgettable combination.”