Fashion Credits: Breakfast at Tiffany's
Breakfast at Tiffany’s is one of the most stylish and iconic films ever made. Audrey Hepburn’s portrayal of call girl Holly Golightly presented some of the greatest fashion moments of the 20th century; most notably, the little black dress. Her look is still copied to this day and it is a constant source of inspiration for both myself and many other women.
Before I go any further and explain why I love the LBDs (Little Black Dress), costume jewelry, and oversized-sunglasses — the darkness of this film needs to be addressed. This isn’t just a movie about diamonds and falling in love in New York City. It’s about an emotionally unstable woman who has a lot of baggage and issues.
Holly is a former child bride from rural Texas named Lula Mae Barnes. She escapes to New York City to start a new life for herself and becomes a socialite. Holly is able to afford her luxury wardrobe and Upper East Side apartment through illegal endeavors — she’s both a call girl and a criminal. She meets and seduces wealthy men who give her money for the “powder room” and visits a mobster at Sing Sing, who pays her for a weekly weather report.
While Holly appears to be living a charmed life, she struggles with deep emotional issues. She can’t attach herself to anything, even her pet cat, who she just calls “Cat.” The only person she ever seems to care for is her brother, Fred, who is in the Army. Later in the film, she receives a telegram notifying her that Fred died in a Jeep accident.
At the end of the film, Holly gets her Hollywood ending. Her love interest and neighbor, Paul Varjak, who becomes infatuated with her, kisses her in the rain and they live happily ever after — a far cry from the ending in the book, written by the legendary Truman Capote.
Aside from the darkness, the entire film is drenched in glamour. It manages to let the viewer completely escape in the costumes and aesthetics of the early sixties. Holly differs from other women of the era as her style is about sophistication, not sex appeal (which creates the irony that she is in fact a sex worker). In the first scene, we see her in her iconic Givenchy LBD, arguably one of, it not the most, iconic film costumes ever. She’s coming back from a night of work, eating breakfast with a coffee in one hand and a danish in the other while she looks into the windows of Tiffany’s.
She sticks to a dark color palette throughout the film, only throwing on a pink cocktail dress once she manages to land a Brazilian Billionaire. She’s not looking for attention, but rather, quiet admiration of her elegance. She has studied the women of New York society, and knows how to capture their aura and style — hoping it will land her an old money husband.
The film ends with Holly drenched in the rain in a trench coat, a far cry from her immaculate first appearance. This shows that Holly is no longer fixated of keeping up appearances or trying to be a fraud — she’s finally fallen in love with someone, and not because of their superficial intrigue.