PARAMOUNT PICTURES USHERED IN THE new year of 1953 by presenting American audiences with a new star: Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday. At that point, the twenty-three-year-old actress had appeared in a handful of films and been the darling of Broadway starring in Anita Loos’s adaptation of Colette’s Gigi. It was her showcase in Roman Holiday, however, that would eventually charm audiences the world over and win Audrey recognition as that year’s Best Actress Oscar pick.
Paramount quickly lined up a new project for her, based on Samuel Taylor’s hit play, Sabrina Fair. Enacting the part of a chauffeur’s daughter who falls in love with the handsome scion of a wealthy Long Island family, Audrey transforms from a timid waif into a sophisticated, worldly, exquisitely dressed young woman. Though Paramount’s head designer, Edith Head, was working on the film, director Billy Wilder wanted Audrey to have genuine French couture for the scenes set after Sabrina’s return from study abroad. The studio arranged for Audrey to fly to Paris on a mission to bring back suitable fashions for Sabrina. She asked to meet with one designer in particular.
At twenty-six, Hubert de Givenchy was an emerging designer inspired by the fashions of Jacques Fath and Cristóbal Balenciaga, and who had been the director of Elsa Schiaparelli’s boutique for four years. Motivated to start his own business based on luxury prêt-à-porter, he had opened the House of Givenchy on February 2, 1952. Audrey was already a fan, and with money earned from Roman Holiday she had made her first extravagant gift to herself: an original Givenchy coat. The designer and his staff were hard at work on a new collection in the summer of 1953, when Givenchy agreed to meet with “Miss Hepburn” at his atelier. Roman Holiday not having been released in France yet, he had never heard of Audrey; he thought that the appointment was with the already-legendary Katharine Hepburn. Audrey was blissfully unaware of any such confusion, though, and excitedly arrived for their meeting at the appointed time.
Givenchy later recalled, “When the door of my studio opened, there stood a young woman, very slim, very tall, with doe eyes and short hair and wearing a pair of narrow pants, a little T-shirt, slippers, and a gondolier’s hat with red ribbon that read Venezia.” The designer was immediately taken with this vision—and her personality—but he was still unable to oblige when asked to design new fashions for Audrey to wear in Sabrina. Undeterred, Audrey asked if she could browse the completed garments of his collection in progress. As she began trying the clothes on, it became apparent that Audrey was an ideal model for Givenchy’s fashions—the clothes fit her perfectly directly off the racks. The synergy between star and designer was affixed, and Givenchy took Audrey to dinner that evening. They would discover that they had many traits in common besides their shared taste in fashion, including discipline, dedication, loyalty, and graciousness. It was the beginning of a deep friendship and professional partnership that would last until Audrey’s death forty years later.
Audrey returned to Hollywood with three Givenchy originals from the designer’s fledgling collection to debut in Sabrina.
“If you should have any difficulty recognizing your daughter, I shall be the most sophisticated woman at the Glen Cove Station.”
—SABRINA FAIRCHILD
SABRINA HAS JUST RETURNED TO AMERICA from Paris and made her way to Long Island by train. Her expected pickup from the station by her father, the chauffeur of the Larrabee family, is intercepted by David Larrabee (William Holden), the dreamboat of a business tycoon’s son whom she had fallen head over heels in love with long ago. David never noticed Sabrina from her perch in the rooms above the garage—and certainly does not recognize her as the ultra-chic vision before his eyes at the train station.
THE ACTRESS BEHIND THE SCENES. THE AUDREY-AND-GIVENCHY fashion collaboration first appeared onscreen in the form of this Oxford-gray wool suit. Slim and cinched at the waist and accessorized with a turban and hoop earrings, the ensemble represents the birth of a fashion icon.
SABRINA PAUSES BEFORE MAKING her entrance to the Larrabee party. Givenchy-for-Sabrina dress number two was a white strapless organdy ball gown featuring a detachable overskirt and jet-bead embroidery. This arresting look makes Sabrina the belle of the ball.
SABRINA OWNS A SMALL POODLE IN the film, but the hounds shown in these photos were used solely in advertisements, not onscreen.
AUDREY AND WILLIAM Holden fell into a short-lived real-life romance off screen during the making of Sabrina.
FOR SABRINA’S DATE WITH big brother Linus (played by Humphrey Bogart), Audrey wore a black satin evening dress, deeply cut in the back and high in the front. This neckline became known as “décolleté Sabrina” and started a new trend for fashionable women to copy. The dress was decorated with bows at the shoulders and Audrey paired it with a fitted cap (also by Givenchy) that gave her a vaguely catlike appearance. The “ballerina” skirt, cut below the knees, around the calves, became a staple for Audrey.
AUDREY SELECTED THIS hat at Givenchy’s salon in 1953.
ALL SMILES WITH HUMPHREY BOGART and William Holden. Off screen, Bogart was none too fond of his younger costars.
BILLY WILDER PUTS AUDREY AND Humphrey Bogart through their paces.
AN ITALIAN MOVIE POSTER FOR SABRINA.
There were more than just fashion stakes riding on Sabrina. Proving that Roman Holiday had not been a fluke, audiences flocked to see the rising star onscreen again, and Audrey received her second Academy Award nomination as Best Actress for Sabrina.
Including Audrey’s nod for Best Actress, Sabrina received a total of six Oscar nominations. It took home only one—for Best Costume Design. Who collected the statuette? Edith Head. She was the director of Paramount’s wardrobe department and had received sole screen credit for the movie’s costumes. Audrey was mortified. Having such an acknowledgment for his work so early in Givenchy’s career would have been a major coup, but he took this turn of events as only a true gentleman would. He did not become angry and simply went back to work. Audrey privately vowed to make it up to him. The fashion world was infinitely enriched by the pair’s ability to surmount this early bump in the road. Their professional partnership could have ended then. Instead, they would next work together on arguably the most iconic fashion film in movie history.
