Why Audrey Hepburn’s 3 Marriage ceremony Attire Proceed to Blaze a Path in Style

Alongside along with her enduring legacies in movie and magnificence, Audrey Hepburn’s wedding ceremony attire proceed to affect sartorial views and particular person expression. Her cultural affect can be traced to her on- and off-screen bridal model, most famously to the designs she wore over a 40-year friendship and collaboration with Hubert de Givenchy. On the forefront and creation of eternal trend traits, Hepburn even impressed the modern bridal trend world to embrace the black-and-white wedding ceremony gown after she debuted a strapless embroidered organza Givenchy robe throughout a shocking occasion scene in 1954’s Sabrina.

“She is what individuals imply once they say they need to look ‘basic and timeless,’ or ‘elegant however no fuss,’” says Lily Kaizer, proprietor of luxurious classic wedding-dress salon Pleased Isles. 

The “Fortunate” (Nearly) Marriage ceremony Costume

Whereas filming 1953’s Roman Vacation, Hepburn was engaged to English industrialist James Hanson. So she commissioned the Fontana sisters, who additionally collaborated with Edith Head on Hepburn’s costumes within the movie, to design her wedding ceremony gown.

Elegant and pared-down, Hepburn’s first wedding ceremony gown supplied a glimpse right into a trend icon’s definitive perspective: demure boatneck, lengthy sleeves, and a playful high-low hemline. Finally, she known as off the nuptials and requested the sisters to donate the design. “[I want the dress] to be worn by one other woman for her wedding ceremony, maybe somebody who couldn’t ever afford a gown like mine—essentially the most lovely, poor Italian woman you could find,” the longer term UNICEF ambassador reportedly stated. 

The couturiers discovered a recipient, Amiable Altobella, and invited her to their Rome atelier for alterations. “The entire expertise should have been unbelievable for [Altobella and her fiancé],” says Kerry Taylor, founding father of London-based Kerry Taylor Auctions, of the couple’s go to from the town of Latina. 

“That they had three daughters and 5 grandchildren. Amiable stated, ‘I’ve had a contented marriage, so the gown introduced me luck’ and that was very a lot the sensation when the gown was handed over,” says Taylor, who auctioned the gown in 2009 for $23,000. “The entire household felt such satisfaction at having had one thing so particular and so distinctive.”

The Balmain Marriage ceremony Costume

After a whirlwind romance, Hepburn married American actor Mel Ferrer on September 25, 1954, in Bürgenstock, Switzerland.