Hepburn’s iconic dress sells for €607,000

THE iconic black cocktail dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in he film Breakfast at Tiffany’s fetched £410,000 (€607,000) at auction yesterday.

It went for almost six times its £70,000 (€104,000) estimate at Christie’s auction house in London.

Hepburn wore the dress for her role as Holly Golightly in the classic 1961 film.

Hepburn emerged from a cab on to New York’s Fifth Avenue wearing the elegant black dress in the opening sequence of the movie. She then peered wistfully into the window of Tiffany’s and ate her breakfast from a brown paper bag.

The famous photograph accompanying the film showed Hepburn wearing the dress, designed by Hubert de Givenchy, along with black gloves and pearls.

The dress was auctioned by its owners to raise money for their charity, City of Joy Aid, which raises money for India’s poor.

There was frenzied bidding in the auction room as the price for the dress rocketed beyond all expectations, and was snapped up by a telephone buyer.

Hepburn died in 1993, aged 63, but her status as a style icon lives on.

Earlier this year she was voted the most beautiful woman of all time.

She won an Oscar for Roman Holiday in 1953 and went on to star in Funny Face, The Nun’s Story and My Fair Lady.

In her later life she became known for her humanitarian work, becoming a goodwill ambassador for Unicef in 1998.

The dress, which sold for £467,200 (€692,000) including the buyer’s premium, broke the world record for a dress made for film.

Dominic Lapierre, selling the item on behalf of his charity City of Joy Aid, said: “There are tears in my eyes."