Ever been shopping and spent a huge amount of money on something you'll probably never wear? One buyer was a bit more canny, and spent near £1 million at Christie's on that black dress that Audrey Hepburn wears in Breakfast at Tiffany's. And they did it in the name of charidee, with the proceeds going to the City of Joy Aid. The organisation builds schools for the poorer communities in India. Founder Dominic Lapierre gushed yesterday:
I am absolutely dumbfounded to believe that a piece of cloth which belonged to such a magical actress will now enable me to buy bricks and cement to put the most destitute children in the world into schools.
The dress was bought for £400,000 by the anonymous bidder, with an additional £300,000 going towards buyer's fees. Hepburn wears another copy of the dress in that iconic scene where she steps out of the car and stares longingly into Tiffany's window, while eating breakfast from a brown bag. The Lapierre family were given the dress by Givenchy, but it is only one of three that was made for the film. Lucky Christies' employee Romilly Collins, got to try it on, to an oddly Halloween-ish effect, as can be seen here. Though it's not the priciest dress sold in auction - that was Marilyn Monroe's - Audrey's still one of the most popular girls on the block - at least with street artists.
Hepburn herself was a UN ambassador, so she might have been pleased with the proceeds. Other items in the sale that might see a bit of wear and tear from their buyers, if they were so inclined, include a collection of guns from James Bond, and a test mask for C3P0 of Star Wars. Another more cuddly though sartorially less sophisticated item up for auction was Colin Firth's horrible reindeer jumper in Bridget Jones' Diary. It went for £600. Let's hope that was in the name of charity. The rest of us can check out e-bay, where if you've got a spare £5,000 you can buy your own dalek (and an agent for that dalek).
Image taken from Don Gato's photostream
