Fashion on film: Breakfast at Tiffany's

16/12/2020

Fashion on film: Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Step inside one of the 20th Century’s most iconic fashion films

You know Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Or at least you think you do. How could you not? It is, after all, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. So go ahead and tell us the plot, we’ll wait…

Struggling? We’re not surprised. While based on a novella by the great Truman Capote, the enduring memory of the cinematic version of Breakfast at Tiffany’s is not one of pacy story and Oscar-winning acting (although it did receive five nominations) but one of little black dresses, pearls and Audrey Hepburn’s intricately coiffed up-dos.

For those who need a précis, Breakfast at Tiffany’s is about a naive cafe society girl named Holly Golightly (Hepburn) who falls in love with struggling writer Paul Varjak (George Peppard). But, as we’ve discussed, the plot is really beside the point - because Breakfast at Tiffany’s is the quintessential fashion film. Its influence on popular culture, the relationship between celebrities and designers and the starting point it has given countless of wardrobe departments since its 1961 release can’t be overstated. Here’s everything you need to know…

The costume design

While now it’s commonplace to see costumes pulled directly from high fashion runways on both big and small screens (just look at the proliferation of labels in sit-com Schitt’s Creek as a case in point), when costume designer Edith Head enlisted the talents of Hubert de Givenchy to help create Holly Golightly’s looks in Breakfast at Tiffany’s it was practically unheard of. In fact, if Christian Dior and Pierre Balmain hadn’t set a precedent with 1950’s Stage Fright and 1956’s And God Created Woman, chances are he may not have agreed at all. The work of a Parisian couturier, after all, could gain prestige on stage as part of a ballet or opera, but throwing his weight behind a Hollywood film about a frivolous party girl? Perhaps not so much.

It helped, of course, that Givenchy knew a canny marketing opportunity when he saw one and had been building a fruitful relationship with Hepburn since she borrowed a number of dresses for her turn in Sabrina in 1954. Their friendship, cemented by their stellar collaboration in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, would go on to last decades and provide a framework for modern celebrity endorsement deals. Perhaps if Truman Capote had been allowed to cast his first choice actress, Marilyn Monroe, things would have turned out quite differently.

Yet, while we have Givenchy to thank for placing the LBD firmly at the centre of a woman’s eveningwear wardrobe, the work of costume designer Edith Head is often unfairly dismissed. Despite having already won six Academy Awards for her work on films including Roman Holiday, Sabrina and All About Eve, when it came to Breakfast at Tiffany’s, it was Givenchy who received all the credit, with Head being demoted to ‘costume supervisor’.

This is a notable reversal of what happened during the making of Sabrina. In that film, despite most of Hepburn’s Parisian ensembles having been designed by Givenchy and chosen by the actress, because they were created in Head’s costume department she received the Oscar and Givenchy went completely uncredited. Perhaps Breakfast at Tiffany’s was seen as a righting of old wrongs or maybe Audrey Hepburn had a part to play in Givenchy’s status within the film. Either way it is certainly a neat demonstration of the importance Hollywood placed on having a star designer attached to its films.

The looks

The opening black dress
It isn’t often a film’s most memorable moment comes in the first 30 seconds but Holly Golightly floating from a taxi in a long black dress, Danish in one hand, coffee in the other, to peer into the window of Tiffany’s is certainly among them. Surprisingly one of only two black dresses designed by Givenchy for the film, the original version was short and deemed by Paramount Pictures to be too ‘revealing’. Edith Head was tasked with redesigning it to floor length version we are familiar with now, while the Oliver Goldsmith sunglasses, long black gloves and stacks of Robert Scemama pearls which accentuate the dress’ demi-lune neckline were the result of a collaboration between the two designers.

It could be argued, in fact, this it is these accessories that elevated the look from simple to iconic. As Pamela Keogh Clarke writes in her book Audrey Style, “The Hepburn Givenchy partnership reached the apogee of refined elegance as Holly Golightly’s hangover chic caused a run on triple strand faux pearl necklaces, sleeveless dresses and oversized dark sunglasses that continues to this day.”

However, not only does the dress look great, it also plays an important role in establishing Holly Golightly’s character. It is first thing in morning. She is eating breakfast but clearly wearing a sophisticated evening gown while not looking at all dishevelled. Immediately it is clear that while, yes, Golightly is a lady of the night, she is also elegant, refined and completely in control of her situation. She is not your typical shady call girl but a woman the film urges you to admire and warm to. She is an underdog with the looks and poise of a movie star.

The second black dress

Although Givenchy’s shorter style had been ruled out for the opening scene, Hepburn does eventually slip into a briefer black dress later in the film. Featuring a similar sleeveless, scoop neck design to the first, this one ends slightly above the knee with a feathered hem and is made from silk (rather than the first’s satin). Worn with a huge lampshade hat, oversized sunglasses and long gloves, it is the picture of 1960s daytime elegance. Later, however, it is styled with both an exuberant white pom-pom fascinator and enormous earrings, followed by a huge tonal necklace and cigarette holder for an evening event.

It is unusual to see one costume repeated in this way on film but again, this reveals something key about Golightly’s character. She understands the importance of clothing and appearance while not having the means to buy the wardrobe her life demands. She has learned to accessorise in a way that tricks her companions into believing her to be a woman of great style without inviting questions about wealth.

The Moon River look

Another look that serves to reveal key parts of Golightly’s personality, it is the scene in which she sings Moon River while wearing a simple pair of jeans and a sweatshirt that Hepburn believes tells you most about her character. “The real girl comes alive in the blue jeans. Every woman is an actress in a Paris gown,” the actress explained of the scene. Hair wrapped in a turban and wearing ballet flats rather than heels, this is one of the few times in which Golightly is seen without the presence of another character suggesting that, beneath the jewellery and finery, there is a simpler side to Golightly that she doesn’t allow the world to see.

The legacy

Much of the fashion legacy of Breakfast at Tiffany’s centres around that opening black dress - with it frequently voted among the most iconic images of 20th Century cinema. While the actual dresses used in the movie were likely destroyed after filming, three copies were made: one for the Givenchy archive, one currently on display at the Museo del Traje in Madrid and one gifted to Audrey Hepburn. After her death in 1993, Hepburn's gown was donated to City of Joy Aid and, in 2006, appeared on the front cover of Harper’s Bazaar worn by Natalie Portman. It was auctioned at Christie’s the same year for £467,200 - far exceeding its reserve of £50,000.

Of course, in its simplicity, it’s also a look that crops up time and time again in popular culture. Few and far between are the Halloween parties which do not feature at least on Holly Golightly while both Nicole Kidman and Shailene Woodley’s characters sported a version of this outfit at a Hepburn-themed party in 2017’s Big Little Lies. Anne Hathaway, too, referenced the shorter little black dress in Breakfast at Tiffany’s in perhaps a most unlikely role: as Catwoman in the Batman flick Dark Knight Rises.

Perhaps the most important reference of all, however, came in 2017 when Tiffany’s opened a cafe in the newly refurbished home goods department of its Fifth Avenue flagship. Finally, after more than 50 years, you could actually have breakfast at Tiffany’s.

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