Hubert de Givenchy, Famed French Designer, Dead at 91
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French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy, who created famous looks for Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Jackie Kennedy, died in his sleep at the Renaissance chateau near Paris Saturday morning.
His partner Philippe Venet, a former haute couture designer, confirmed the news. “It is with huge sadness that we inform you that Hubert Taffin de Givenchy has died,” he said via the fashion house.
Givenchy was most famous for creating the iconic “little black dress” worn by Audrey Hepburn in the opening scene of Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
“It was… an enormous help to know that I looked the part… Then the rest wasn’t so tough anymore. Givenchy’s lovely simple clothes [gave me] the feeling of being whoever I played…,” Hepburn previously said of the designer.
He also developed his first perfume collection for her (L’Interdit and Le de Givenchy). Hepburn was the face of that fragrance. For the very first time a star was the face of a fragrance’s advertising campaign and probably the last time that it was done for free, only by friendship.
In 1970, he was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame.
The House of Givenchy tweeted Monday morning: “The House of Givenchy is sad to report the passing of its founder Hubert de Givenchy, a major personality of the world of French Haute Couture and a gentleman who symbolized Parisian chic and elegance for more than half a century. He will be greatly missed.”
