Some fashion girls say they have Audrey Hepburn's dresses from My Fair Lady on their mood board. Others are Kaia Gerber, and can wear rare vintage Givenchy couture that references the eternal style icon's equally monumental 1964 film wardrobe.
Kaia Gerber attended the Oct. 19 Academy Museum Gala—a fundraiser for the museum that's considered the "West Coast Met Gala"—in a gown she told Vogue was an "homage to Old Hollywood." A beaded, cap-sleeve dress with a semi-sheer skirt, Alexander McQueen designed it in 1997 during his tenure as Givenchy's creative director. It references a look dated to more than three decades before that: Audrey Hepburn's white embassy ball gown from My Fair Lady.
McQueen's version for Givenchy arrived in a collection that mixed up and reimagined visual references from women around the world. Those included Hepburn—who frequently wore Givenchy dresses—in the form of two gowns inspired by her My Fair Lady wardrobe. One was white exactly like the version onscreen; the other is the black gown Gerber would pick out for the Academy Museum Gala. (Ironically, the onscreen version is one of Hepburn's most famous pieces that's not Givenchy. It's by Cecil Beaton, who would win the Academy Award for costume design for his work on the film.)
In a red carpet interview with Vogue, Gerber said that Audrey Hepburn has "always" been a major source of style inspiration. As for her Academy Gala gown, "I love that this was Lee McQueen’s darker, gothic version of the very classic My Fair Lady dress," she added.
Gerber's 2024 take eschewed the tiny tiara and towering updos styled on both Hepburn and her 1997 Givenchy couture offshoots. Instead, the model wore her hair parted down the middle, with her curtain bangs gently curled to frame her face. A Givenchy bag and shoes, a diamond De Beers ring, and delicate earrings and a choker from RW Fine Jewelry completed her elegant, past-meets-present look.
Kaia Gerber's vintage Givenchy couture was also her way of nodding to the house's future. Earlier this year, the label appointed Sarah Burton, former Alexander McQueen creative director, to its top design spot.
Gerber told Vogue that working with Burton for the Academy Gala felt like a “wonderful way to celebrate Lee and Sarah’s time at Givenchy in the late ’90s." And, it's also a way for the now self-styling Gerber to flex her fashion knowledge.
