Audrey Tautou as modern Audrey Hepburn

With luminous hazelnut eyes and endless charm, Audrey Tautou could be our modern Audrey Hepburn.

Hepburn captured the nation’s heart with her acting skills, classy intelligence and European sophisticated looks. No one can ever replace this great actress and her iconic style. However, we can be fascinated by the beauty, charm and mystique of young Audrey Tautou.

Both actresses seem closest when comparing Holly with the mysterious Amelie Poulain from Amelie. Tautou plays a young French girl who lives half in and half out of reality, often imagining alternate realities or wondrous events in her own somewhat mundane life. Like in many of the roles Hepburn played before her, the appearance of a man in her world shakes things up and pulls her out of her sleepy existence.

Both are impulsive, even careless at times; even though they were acting in these films, it is the women behind these roles that brought the depth to these characters. They are very alike, as both have cats they deeply love, both reach out as best they can to the men around them, and both are seemingly strong and headstrong women, who prove to be somewhat fragile in the end.

Both are charming and glamour…

Not so little black dress and modern Hepburn

Little black... variations

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Breakfast At Tiffany’s - 50th birthday

Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961) is undoubtedly a polarised view of New York love and style… Less clear-cut than a modern update and yet, because of this ambiguity, all the more moving. Nearly fifty years on, Holly’s Givenchy fashions are still a talking point. Hubert de Givenchy was well known as being Audrey Hepburn’s favourite designer and she was his muse.

The outfits are distinctly Givenchy: satin, big hats and buttons. However,  Audrey Hepburn bestows distinctly “the touches”, like the tight wrapping and not fastening of her belts. Emphasising her tiny waist, she knew how to spotlight herself on film without altering character or narrative. Clothes are employed as a separate discourse for Holly, like during the party sequence when she wears a white silk wrap and then minutes later changes into a plain black evening gown with upswept hair, huge jewelled necklace and ludicrous cigarette holder, which informs her transformation from lucid and charming to a tipsy man-eater.

Recently designer outfits belonging to Audrey Hepburn went under the hammer in London raising £268,320 with half the proceeds going to charity. A considerable portion of the lots were either Givenchy; frocks, suits and accessories, or Rose Bertin, consisting of slacks, some cute mini-dresses and day wear.