LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON

AUDREY HEPBURN FANS WERE TREATED to a second new release of hers in 1957: Love in the Afternoon. Though it was not as perfect a fit as Funny Face was for Givenchy fashions, it allowed the star and designer the pleasure of working together on back-to-back films. In Love in the Afternoon, Audrey played Ariane, a music conservatory pupil whose father makes a living as a private detective specializing in the investigation of extramarital romance. While one might ask how this young student can afford such finery as the work of a master couturier, the simple answer is, who cares? She looks divine, and audiences are regaled with another stunning array of fashions. The collection of looks is indeed supremely elegant, but with their clean lines and lack of ostentatiousness, they do seem to fit the humble and endlessly endearing Ariane.

Costarring Gary Cooper as Ariane’s love interest and Maurice Chevalier as her father, Love in the Afternoon was based on the Claude Anet novel Ariane. Helmed by Sabrina director Billy Wilder, the picture is a sparkling romantic comedy with dialogue that rings with saucy, sophisticated humor from start to finish.

“I’m the girl in the afternoon—the aperitif, as we say on the Left Bank.”

—ARIANE CHAVASSE

CONSERVATORY CHIC—ARIANE, A STUDENT OF the cello, wears a simple-but-lovely black dress for her classes. The dress features a drop torso and tea-length cut—two staple features in this period of Givenchy-for-Audrey. At one point in the film, it becomes necessary for her to scale a wall wearing this dress. A hat is also added to the ensemble as part of a disguise.

IN THIS SCENE, AUDREY (PICTURED WITH Maurice Chevalier) wears a precious suit with slim pants and a single-breasted jacket, out of which peeks the Peter Pan collar of her blouse. She pairs the outfit with pigtails. It’s difficult to imagine another leading lady of the era (or any era!) pulling off this look.

THE WAY BILLY WILDER SHOT HER ENTRANCES to the Ritz allowed Audrey to model a few of Givenchy’s creations organically. A repeat angle of Ariane carrying her cello while arriving at the hotel, going up the stairs, through a hall, and past the camera’s eye gave audiences a look at her wardrobe from behind. The first presented in this way is a long, slim-cut dress with a bateau neckline, decorated in back with bows.

AUDREY’S CHARACTER HAS THE NICKNAME of “Thin Girl” in Love in the Afternoon. As her great friend Audrey Wilder (wife of the director) observed, “Audrey came to town, and everyone immediately wanted to lose ten pounds.” Audrey’s weight was maintained through a disciplined lifestyle, but she ate heartily and was naturally slender. At times she even felt too thin. Because she was self-conscious of her hollowed collarbone, the high décolleté Sabrina neckline that Givenchy perfected was one of her favorite cuts.

ARIANE WEARS THIS FULL-SKIRTED dress, bejeweled at the top and bottom, to the opera (again, to Tristan and Isolde, as in Funny Face). It is difficult to believe that Gary Cooper’s Frank Flannagan at first doesn’t remember his “Thin Girl.”

ARIANE THROWS A LUXURIOUS FUR COAT OVER a slim and simple dress before entering Mr. Flannagan’s suite. Audrey once said, “I’ve never even thought of myself as very glamorous. Glamorous is Ava Gardner or Elizabeth Taylor, not me.”

FOR HER PICNIC DATE, ARIANE wears a simple white blouse and striped cropped pants. She later adds a cardigan to keep warm in the late-afternoon chill.

ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL LOOKS OF LOVE in the Afternoon is this floral dress, which is cut below the knees, impossibly slim at the waist, and features an unusual shoulder-to-shoulder-scooped neckline.

THE PERFECT LOOK FOR BIDDING ADIEU AT A train station. It proves irresistible as the lovers cannot bear to part ways. Instead, they embrace in a touchingly romantic ending.