30 years have passed since the farewell to Audrey Hepburn, the interpreter of cult films such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Roman Holiday, icon of absolute charm, muse of directors and couturiers such as monsieur Huberth de Givenchy. But her myth remains intact, in the memory of a diva with an incomparable charisma, but also of a committed woman, as a Unicef ambassador, against world hunger, she who experienced the effects of malnutrition during the war firsthand. Audrey Hepburn died on January 20, 1993 in his villa in Switzerland in Tolochenaz.
Even today remains the diva pMost cited in the fashion world, the most cloned, the most imitated, like a modern influencer with millions of followers. Many documentaries and books by her on her life. The long black dress she wore in Breakfast at Tiffany’s is the most cited dress in fashion. The delightful short bangs sported in the film My Fair Lady is still today a look copied by girls of all latitudes. Her favorite shoes, the flats, worn for the first time in Stanley Donen’s musical film (1957) Cinderella in Paris, are evergreen female shoe models. The clothing created for her by Givenchy is still considered a “classic” in the wardrobe of chic women. The couturier met Audrey in 1953 and elected her his muse. Audrey wore her clothes both in life and in the movies. Unforgettable are the garments created by Givenchy for Sabrialready (1954), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Roman Holiday, by William Wyler (1953), Charade, by Stanley Donen, and How to Steal a Million Dollars and Live Happily, by Wyler (1966).
Hepburn’s real name was Audrey Kathleen Ruston: born in Brussels, Belgium, on May 4, 1929 from the second marriage of Baroness Ella van Heemstra, descendant of James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, third husband of Mary Queen of Scots, with the banker Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston, divorced, non-noble, brilliant, cultured man. The family had moved to Belgium since Audrey’s birth, in Linkebeek. But soon her parents began to quarrel and she Audrey was removed from home and sent to Holland where she studied dance and acting. But the privations of the war made her physically frail. In her career she won an Oscar, three Golden Globes, an Emmy, a Grammy Award, four BAFTAs (British Academy of Film and Television Arts), two Tonys and three David di Donatello.
For her humanitarian work with the United Nations Fund, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 and the Jean Hersholt Award in 1993. New Woman magazine voted her the most beautiful woman of all time in a 2006 poll. And also the most elegant. In fact, her Burberry trench coat, some dresses made by Givenchy, a gold lighter, many portraits signed by well-known photographers of the time and above all the original script of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, were part of Audrey Hepburn’s memorabilia which on 27 September 2017 were auctioned by Christie’s in London, sold at stellar prices. Among the items in the auction was a fringed satin cocktail dress made for Audrey by Givenchy that was worn for a photo shoot by William Klein to promote the film, Two for the Road (1966).
Audrey’s Burberry trench coat and a collection of her beloved flats also went under auction. The black satin dress Givenchy designed for Breakfast at Tiffany’s was auctioned off at Christie’s in 2006, fetching £456,200, setting a world record for a garment made for a film. From 1967 she retired from the scene. In private life she is restless. After her divorce with Mel Ferrer, she marries an Italian psychiatrist, Andrea Dotti with whom she has her second son Luca, and she moves to Rome. In 1983 the marriage ends. Her new partner, theDutchman Robert Wolser, will stay by her side until the end.
The last part of the diva’s life will be completely dedicated to children, in the role of Unicef ambassador. Her last film was Steven Spielberg’s Always (1989). The director wanted her dressed in white, with her chignon, not surprisingly in the role of an angel. Her son Sean Ferrer founded the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund to promote schooling in African countries.
