Hubert de Givenchy, French clothing designer who transformed Audrey Hepburn into a style legend, die

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Washington Post

Hubert de Givenchy, French clothing designer who transformed Audrey Hepburn into a style legend, dies at 91



French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy in 1952 poses with mannequins in his shop in Paris. (AP)

By Megan McDonough March 12 at 10:25 AM [e-mail]

Hubert de Givenchy, a French designer whose fashions influenced haute couture in the 1950s and ’60s and transformed his close friend, actress Audrey Hepburn, into a style legend, died March 10 at 91. ... The death was announced by artistic director of Givenchy, Clare Waight Keller. No other information was immediately available.

For more than four decades, Mr. Givenchy bridged the American and Parisian fashion worlds, designing effortlessly chic clothes that adorned European royalty and Hollywood stars. He clothed Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Grace Kelly, Lauren Bacall, Elizabeth Taylor and some of the world’s most fashionable women, including first lady Jacqueline Kennedy and the socialites Rachel “Bunny” Mellon and Catherine “Deeda” Blair.

“Givenchy has long been a classicist, one of the last of the old school of haute couture, where gorgeous clothes were made for a woman to live in, not to decorate her,” fashion journalist Dana Thomas wrote in The Washington Post in 1995. “His clothes moved with a woman’s body, rather than restricted it.” ... The precociously talented, darkly handsome, 6-foot-6 designer was only 25 when he opened his own atelier in Paris in 1952. His debut collection was one of the earliest ready-to-wear, high-end fashion lines.

“Paris had been occupied by the Nazis and French fashion had been pretty much beaten in to the ground,” said Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of the Fashion Institute of Technology Museum in New York. “He was one of the leading French courtiers in a period in which couture made a triumphant resurgence.”
....

Megan McDonough is a weddings writer and editorial aide for The Washington Post. Follow @mgnmcdonough

https://twitter.com/mgnmcdonough

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/hubert-de-givenchy-french-clothing-designer-who-transformed-audrey-hepburn-into-a-style-legend-dies-at-91/2018/03/12/f64f83f0-25fe-11e8-b79d-f3d931db7f68_story.html

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Hubert de Givenchy, French clothing designer who transformed Audrey Hepburn into a style legend, dies at 91

Link to tweet

[Me.]

1. Heart Broken

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Didn't realize he was still around.

R.I.P.

[KT2000]

3. The best

his gowns were beautiful and elegant. What a wonderful contribution he made.

[gay texan]

4. Audrey looked so stunning

In "Breakfast at Tiffanys". I wonder if he was responsible for her signature skinny pants and ballet flats look?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. A quick search at Wikipedia comes up with this:

Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)
....

Influence

Hepburn as Holly, with her hair in a high chignon and carrying an oversized cigarette holder, is considered one of the most iconic images of 20th century American cinema. Another iconic item throughout the movie is Holly's sunglasses. Often misidentified as Ray-Ban, they are Manhattan sunglasses designed and manufactured in London by Oliver Goldsmith. In 2011 the model was re-released to mark the 50th anniversary of Breakfast at Tiffany's. One of three dresses designed by Givenchy for Hepburn for possible use in the film sold at auction by Christie's[18] on December 5, 2006 for £467,200 (~US$947,000), about seven times the reserve price. The "Little Black Dress" by Givenchy, worn by Hepburn in the beginning of the film, is cited as one of the most iconic items of clothing in the history of the twentieth century and is, perhaps, the most famous little black dress of all time. A second "little black dress" in Breakfast at Tiffany's, along with its wide-brimmed hat, was worn by Hepburn as Holly when she goes to visit mobster Sally Tomato at Sing Sing Prison. This dress was paid homage as one of the dresses worn by Anne Hathaway's character Selina Kyle, Catwoman's alter ego, in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises; the comic book Catwoman character was originally drawn based on Hepburn, according to Catwoman comic cover artist Adam Hughes, creating a double homage to Hepburn's Holly Golightly in Hathaway's Catwoman.

The film rejuvenated the career of 1930s movie song-and-dance man and Disney Davy Crockett sidekick Buddy Ebsen, who had a small but effective role in this film as Doc Golightly, Holly's ex-husband. His success here led directly to his best-known role as Jed Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies.

A diamond necklace at Tiffany's that Hepburn scorned as too flashy, was the Tiffany Yellow Diamond, which she wore in publicity photos for the film. Tiffany's profile, while already established as a pre-eminent luxury retailer, was further boosted by the film.

And there are many footnotes to that section that I snipped.

[rocktivity]

5. There was a scene from the movie How To Steal A Million

Last edited Wed Sep 5, 2018, 09:50 AM - Edit history (2)

where Peter O'Toole has Audrey dress like a janitor because they are going to hide out in a museum -- which O'Toole refers to as her "giving Givenchy the night off..."




rockivity