Christie’s in London recently hosted an exhibition of Audrey Hepburn’s Personal Collection using Schläppi 2200 mannequins for a 5-day event leading up to the auction.
11 of the garments on display are pieces created by Hubert de Givenchy for Audrey Hepburn in the 1970s, 80s and early 1990s. Givenchy and Hepburn met each other during the making of Hepburn’s 1954 film Sabrina and would go on to develop a 40-year friendship that resulted in the creation of some of Givenchy’s most famous pieces. He dressed Hepburn for her appearances in Roman Holiday, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Charade, and My Fair Lady, among other films.
A Burberry trench coat and a black satin smoking suit by Yves Saint Laurent from the 1980s feature in the collection alongside other pieces by Valentino, Ralph Lauren and Emporio Armani. Christie’s used the 25 mannequins in a series of three rooms with a Schläppi 2227.02 taking centre stage in one of the rooms. Each of the garments reflects Hepburn’s distinctive style, one that Givenchy noted, stemmed from her desire for simplicity.
It’s not the first time Audrey Hepburn and the Schläppi 2200 collection have paired up – Givenchy’s recent exhibition in honour of Hepburn, hosted by the Expo Fondation Bolle in Morges, Switzerland featured the same mannequin collection. Givenchy’s sketches on display during the exhibition reflect the same elegance of form that the 2200 collection has become famous for. Yet again, Givenchy used the 2200 collection for his first major retrospective hosted by the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid. Other organisations have successfully used the 2200 collection including the Barbican for ‘The Vulgar’ exhibition, the Met Museum for their ‘Countess Jacquilinede Ribes’ event and the AMO – Arena Museo Opera in Verona for their Maria Callas tribute.
The Audrey Hepburn Exhibition was followed by the sale of her personal collection at Christie’s on the 4th of October and raised a total of £1,418,375.
Visit our Schläppi 2200 page for more information on the collection. To view other Schläppi collections see our dedicated page here.