IN THE 1960s—A FULL DECADE AFTER HER remarkable debut in Hollywood films—Audrey was a greater star than ever. She had matured from the Cinderella-type roles she’d essayed early on and racked up four Best Actress Academy Award nominations. After Breakfast at Tiffany’s, she starred in the controversial The Children’s Hour with Shirley MacLaine. Her next film, Paris When It Sizzles, could not have been more different. In this remake of the 1952 French comedy La fête à Henriette, she played the impressionable Gabrielle Simpson, a muse, assistant, and daydreaming kindred spirit to a frustrated screenwriter played by her Sabrina costar (and former lover) William Holden.
The film’s intentionally over-the-top satire was not everyone’s cup of tea. Both stars made the picture in fulfillment of their Paramount contracts, but once it was made, the studio was nervous about the unusual film’s prospects. They shelved the movie until after the release of Charade (1963), though Paris When It Sizzles was made first. Audrey fared better than Holden. She is as delightful as ever to watch, and reviews of the day were much kinder to her than they were to the rest of Paris When It Sizzles.
Highly stylized and whimsical, the film was set in Paris and found Audrey swathed in not only the style, but also the scent of Givenchy, who received screen credit for Audrey’s wardrobe as well as for her perfume. According to the designer, the perfume that the credit referenced, L’Interdit, “was created in the image of Audrey Hepburn, as a tribute to her beauty and as something interdit (forbidden) to others, thereby exclusive.” It was made available to the public in 1957, and in the ’60s, Audrey’s face was featured on advertisements for L’Interdit. It has since been cited as the first official “celebrity perfume.”
ADVERTISEMENTS FOR GIVENCHY’S PERFUME read: “Once she was the only woman in the world allowed to wear this perfume. L’Interdit. Created by Givenchy for Audrey Hepburn.”
THE FASHIONS FOR PARIS WHEN IT SIZZLES were as bright and colorful as its Parisian settings. The fantastical adventures allowed Audrey and Givenchy to stretch their wings: Givenchy created everything from simple secretarial-style dresses to medieval costumes for Audrey to wear as Gabrielle.
MEDIEVAL TIMES BY GIVENCHY: Audrey wore cream-colored silk brocade with black velvet trim around the neckline of this ensemble.
PASTEL COLORS WERE THE ORDER OF the day for Gabrielle Simpson. As Audrey always said, she relied on Givenchy’s clothes to help her create a character, and the light colors befit this effervescent film.
WITH WILLIAM HOLDEN. ALTHOUGH STILL married to his wife of more than twenty years, Brenda Marshall, the actor later admitted it had been difficult for him to work with his former Sabrina flame, Audrey, in Paris When It Sizzles.
“Every morning when I wake up and I see there’s a whole new other day, I just go absolutely ape.”
—GABRIELLE SIMPSON
THE STAR STROLLS IN and out of view in the film’s opening credits. Here, she awaits her cue on set.
THIS IS MUCH LIKE THE PINK DRESS AUDREY wore in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, only simpler. There are, in fact, several references to Tiffany’s in Paris, including the movie ending described by Holden’s character, Gabrielle’s “I must say, the mind reels” line, and the popularity of the “prostitute with the heart of gold” discussed for entertainment value.
