Hepburn's dress fetches big bid

The iconic black dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film "Breakfast at Tiffany's" sold for 410,000 pounds on Tuesday, around seven times its pre-sale estimate.

Including a premium paid to auctioneers Christie's, the total cost for the sleeveless, floor-length Givenchy dress rose to 467,200 pounds ($920,000).

The sale room at Christie's broke into applause at the end of a long and tense session when it was bought by an anonymous telephone bidder.

The dress, one of three versions made for Hepburn for her role as gamine socialite Holly Golightly in the classic romantic comedy, was being auctioned on behalf of the City of Joy Aid charity which helps underprivileged children in India.

"There are tears in my eyes," said Dominic Lapierre, who runs the charity.

"I am absolutely dumbfounded to believe that a piece of cloth which belonged to such a magical actress will now enable me to buy bricks and cement to put the most destitute children in the world into schools."

Christie's said the dress set a new world record for one made for a film, but it fell short of the auction house's own world record for any dress.

That belongs to the white silk evening gown worn by Marilyn Monroe the night she sang "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" to John F. Kennedy in 1962, which fetched $1.27 million at a New York auction in 1999.

The Hepburn dress was the star lot of the annual film and entertainment sale at Christie's, in London's upmarket South Kensington.

According to Christie's, a second version of the dress remains in the Givenchy archives while a third is part of a collection of the Museum of Costume in Madrid.

Hepburn wears the black fashion classic as she emerges from a cab onto a deserted, early-morning New York street and peers through the window of jeweller Tiffany while she eats her breakfast from a brown paper bag.

Source : reuters.co.uk