Many years ago, I visited the offices of The Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund and saw a beautiful video about Audrey’s work with UNICEF. It was introduced by Gregory Peck and I remember he read one of Audrey’s favourite poems by Rabindranath Tagore. It’s been a long time and I haven’t ever been able to find a copy of the video, but luckily a film company found me.

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Well, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? I apologize again and again, it’s all my fault and my lack of a good regular Internet connection. Did everyone have a fun Halloween? Did you flood the streets with Holly Golightlys? It seems the costume guide from last year held up pretty well, and while I didn’t receive any complaints, can you think of any way to expand or improve it? I’d love to eventually do a costume guide for a number of Audrey costumes, but since Holly Golightly is the most easily recognizable and easiest to shop for, I figured that was the safest bet.

Speaking of being easy to recognize in costume, I found myself without a costume the morning of Halloween, due to a fabric malfunction the night before. On short notice I ran out and got a black turtleneck and borrowed some loafers, and hit Hollywood as Jo Stockton (Funny Face). There were loads of people there, but through the whole night I only heard 10 people (not counting my two companions) realize it was an Audrey costume! I guess I should have tried that outfit the year that Gap commercial came out. Anyway, at a party later on in the night Holly Golightly, Eliza Doolittle and Jo met up:

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I’ve been catching up on my Entertainment Weekly issues (I still don’t know how or why I’m getting them in the first place), and I noticed that they actually reviewed the 50th anniversary edition of Funny Face. What’s more: they’re actually huge fans of Kay Thompson! I’ve scanned it to share with you:

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I’d just like to remind everybody that two new Audrey Hepburn goodies were released today. The first is the highly anticipated 50th anniversary Funny Face, which has new featurettes, including a retrospective on Audrey and Givenchy’s lifelong friendship and partnership. It looks to be at least as good as the special anniversary edition of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, so either order your copy today or be sure to put it on your wish list! The holidays are coming before you know it, and there are plenty of new goods coming out to make sure you have an excellent holiday.

The Audrey Hepburn 5-pack is also out today. This is a great gift for the new Audrey fan who maybe hasn’t seen a lot of her films or doesn’t own any yet. With pretty much all of her classics (Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Funny Face, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Paris When It Sizzles) in one pretty box, this is easily the best gift ever. It’s quite affordable, too, so it’s a great idea to keep in mind when you’re doing your holiday shopping or November/December birthday shopping.

You can tell that the holiday season is coming ’round again, because new Audrey products are coming out all at once now. We’ve already discussed the new, 50th anniversary DVD of Funny Face coming October 2nd, but also to be released that day is a new Audrey Hepburn boxed set (left). This new set features five great films: Funny Face, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Roman Holiday, Sabrina, and Paris When it Sizzles. Wow!

This is in addition to the already much hyped Audrey Hepburn: A Life in Pictures book that I reviewed earlier, and a re-release of the wonderful Audrey Hepburn’s Enchanted Tales, an audio CD where Audrey reads classic fairy tales. The book and CD both come out November 1st in the US. You can either start saving your pennies now, or start putting together that wishlist and conveniently leaving it out in front of all your friends and family.

Great news from loyal reader Bill! The release of a 50th anniversary special edition of Funny Face (Region 1) has been announced, with a release date of October 2nd. This new DVD will feature a few items already seen on the original DVD — the Paramount in the 1950s featurette, original theatrical trailer, and photo galleries — plus a few new featurettes, including a cryptically named Parisian Dreams and a new piece on Givenchy and Audrey called A Fashion Designer and His Muse. You can already pre-order through Amazon so you’ll be sure not to forget, and it’s close enough to the holidays so you can put it on your wish list without having to wait too long. Mark your calendars!

Speaking of Givenchy, I came across this story recently. Apparently, the fashion guru is of the personal belief that fashion in and of itself is dead. People seem to only be fixating on popular accessories and following mindless fads, rather than spending the time (and money) to actually find what works on you as an individual and look good. It’s a great read, though fairly short, and I agree with him on all accounts. If I could afford it, he could dress me every day of the week.

A new 3-disc DVD set called Larry King Live – The Greatest Interviews has just come out. The boxed set features some of Larry’s best celebrity interviews over the years, and his interview of Audrey Hepburn is included. Disc one is called Hollywood Film Stars and Legends — this is the disc that Audrey is on, of course. I’m not sure how badly you’d want this footage of the interview, unless you were genuinely interested in a lot of the other people being interviewed in the set, but at $24.99 for 3 discs, it’s still not a bad deal. You can read more about who is included on the discs here, and read some user reviews on Amazon.

Je suis désolé, es tut mir leid, I am so sorry about taking so long with the contest! I won’t waste your time with excuses, so I’ll just get straight to it an announce the winners of the December contest. Second prize is a copy of the new Taschen Icons book on Audrey, and was won by Amy! First prize is a copy of the new special edition of “Gardens of the World,” and has been won by Rosana! Ladies, please check your email so we can ship off your wonderful new prizes. And since the drawing was delayed until after the holidays, if you’ve received your prizes from someone else in the meantime, we’ll work out some other prize you don’t have.

Speaking of “Gardens of the World,” I received my own copy for Christmas, and I’ve already watched half of it! I can’t express to you how wonderful it is. The first disc starts off with roses, and really captivates you from the first. They couldn’t have picked a more addicting first segment, honestly. If you’re a horticulture fan like myself, then you’ll absolutely swoon over these fantastic gardens and beautiful flowers. Audrey herself looks radiant and genuinely happy, so even if you’re not a gardening nut, you’ll be happy with the view of Audrey. I’ll write up a real review later, when I’ve finished all 3 discs, but I can already tell you this is going to get 5 stars. Absolutely fantastic and very addicting. And I’m making myself wait on this one, but the third disc with the special features has footage from the Audrey Hepburn tulip ceremony! Now I can finally see what it looks like.

Now that things have settled down, there’s more time for updates on the website, too. Three new people have joined the Audrey Hepburn community this month, so stop by and check them out. If you’re looking for a fellow Audrey fan to chat with, this should be the first place to look! Alas, a couple of people recently have been forgetting to leave their email addresses, so no one can write to them! So if you do have a profile on the community, please check it and make sure you’ve left an address. If you’ve forgotten, just write to us and we’ll fix it.

The quotes page has also been updated! More and more quotes coming in all the time, both quotes by Audrey and quotes about Audrey from her costars, directors, family and friends. Also, if you have a favourite quote that’s not on the page, feel free to drop us a line and let us know!

And if you haven’t noticed, this page has had some fixing as well. I’m still working on trying to get the heading picture back up (“upgrade” my foot, Blogger!), but we now have a picture of the week and a way to subscribe! If you have a customizable homepage, like AOL, Yahoo or Google where you can add news feeds, you can now get your Audrey news on the same page. Just click the link on the right and it’ll take you to the subscription page. From there, all you have to do is choose the button with your homepage brand, and the Audrey news is added! Easy as pie. And more updates are coming, too.

Well, that’s all for now. Remember, if you entered the contest, check your email! After about a week, unclaimed prizes will be redrawn and given to people who want their goodies.

Note: The Taschen Icons book on Audrey has been pushed back yet again in the US! The last known release date was December 22, but as of yesterday Amazon still doesn’t have books to ship and no local bookstore of mine has any copies. So Americans will either have to order from Canada or keep waiting …

None other than Givenchy himself! You’ll forgive me for jumping straight into things, but I never was good at holding in good news. Anyway, it’s been revealed today that the winning bidder on Audrey’s little black dress from Breakfast at Tiffany’s was none other than its creator (and model’s best friend) Hubert de Givenchy. He had originally donated it to Dominique Lapierre, the founder of City of Joy, a charity helping impoverished children in India, and now he has bought it back again, putting himself out £450,000 along the way. Personally, I’m shocked but extremely happy. We don’t have to worry about some tartlet parading about in the dress on her way to a nightclub, or some other horrible fate. It actually brought a tear or two to my eye when I found this out, since it was so touching that Givenchy would go through all of this to help a friend. No wonder Audrey loved him so.

The next article is also about the dress, this time from a woman who made sure to see the dress in person at Christie’s shortly before it was sold. It’s a very good article about the thrill of seeing this piece of history in person, and she also gives a good history of the Little Black Dress, along with quotes from modern designers who help women decide on what makes a good LBD. You can read the whole article here.

The last article is yet another piece on Audrey’s lasting power (along with a mini biography), but what made it stand out to me is the fact that it claims that Paramount is coming out with a new Audrey boxed set just in time for the holidays. This one is supposed to be a 5-disc DVD set called The Elegance Collection, yet I can’t seem to find any information on it. It’s possible the author was confused and was thinking about The Audrey Hepburn Collection, but that’s a 3-disc set. Either way, the article provides a quick rundown on all of the new Audrey merchandise to come out lately, so if you weren’t sure what to get the Audrey fan in your life, that might be worth looking into.

There’s a short article talking about Audrey’s newfound popularity, especially with the recent Gap ads and the new Treasures book. It’s very short (I’ve told you pretty much all that’s in it already), but you can see the full article here.

Next up, thanks to the Audrey Hepburn Circle, I’ve found that the Gardens of the World miniseries now has their own website up! It’s a very Audrey-centric site, and goes more into detail on what’s in the new special edition DVD set, but the best part is Audrey’s full written introduction to the original series and an interview with her about the series. All in all it’s a nice site and definitely worth sharing, so click here to visit for yourself.

The last news article of the day is pretty interesting, actually. According to the New York Post’s gossip column, 200 replicas of Audrey’s multi-strand pearl necklace from Breakfast at Tiffany’s were made and sold for charity. Natalie Portman is supposedly wearing one on the Harper’s cover (though it’s hard to tell, since you only see the back, just like the dress and the rest of Natalie), and the proceeds went to City of Joy, the same charity that stands to benefit when the B@T dress is sold. Someone’s doing well this year! Click here to read the whole story. Below is a high definition picture of the Harper’s cover, minus some of the annoying text:

Has anyone seen any alternate pictures of Natalie in the dress and necklace, preferably from the front? It’s sort of annoying that they’ve only shot her from the back.