Fit for a Fair Lady

“Church-violet lace, beaded, dense with chenille embroidery, slightly trained” was how Vogue described the Givenchy evening coat worn by Audrey Hepburn to the premiere of My Fair Lady, in 1964. As the biggest press tour of her career to date, the film’s release saw Audrey travelling the globe to promote her new picture: from London to New York, Los Angeles to Paris.

This offered excellent and international publicity of not just the film, but of the Givenchy designs she wore to each event. As a walking billboard of Hubert’s Autumn/Winter 1964 haute couture collection, Audrey was able to select and borrow various ensembles from her friend, and he in turn received unrivalled publicity of his designs.

In London she wore a white sequinned gown with a pale lavender silk evening coat. In Chicago she sported a more whimsical dress of white silk faille, with “flames” of vibrant red ostrich feathers at the hem. For San Francisco she chose a beautiful evening mantle covered in its entirety with silk embroidered pansies. Finally for New York she selected the topic of today’s article - a white satin dress worn beneath an ornately embroidered coat of violet lace and chenille. “Audrey Hepburn’s dream”, Vogue recounted, was to “wear it for the New York opening”.

And it’s this very coat that I can say, with a continual sense of bewilderment, is part of my collection; added, as seems to be a running theme with pieces in my archive, completely by chance.