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Coat from Breakfast at Tiffany's

The burnt orange coat that Audrey Hepburn wore in the 1961 movie Breakfast at Tiffany's was designed by Hepburn's long time couturier Hubert de Givenchy like most of Hepburn's wardrobe in the film. Holly Golightly's style was widely imitated and even knock-offs of this coat were made back in the 1960's.

Reference Photos

Screen Caps

The coat is made of nubbly wool material I have been unable to identify. (If there's a special name for it?) Most likely it is some kind of wool/cashmere blend special treated to create the nubbly surface. The coat is lined with matching silk. It is difficult to say the real colour of the coat since most reference photos are black and white. In some photos it appears red, in the movie the colour is almost orange.

A similar white coat was exhibited Audrey Hepburn: A woman, the style exhibition in Museo Salvatore Ferragamo in Florence in 1999. The description in the catalogue reads: Double-breasted coat in double wool. Kimono sleeves. The soft, rounded line is emphasised by the false belt which terminates in a back knot. High collar.

My research is based on reference photos, watching the DVD and also on this Vogue Paris Original pattern:

It is a Givenchy original c. 1968. The coat has many similar features with the B@T coat: the 7/8 kimono sleeves, the double-breasted closure, even the collar pattern looks similar if you don't roll it. The pattern has helped me to figure out what's going on with the underarm panels as they're barely visible in the movie. The side panel extends into an underarm gusset and there is a horizontal dart in the side/gusset piece at the armpit.

The catch in the coat is the fake belt that emphasises the waist and ends in a tie knot at the back, controlling the fullness. At front the the fullness is taken in by darts in the bodice piece and eased to the waistband in the bottom piece. The sleeves are cut in one with the bodice pieces. It is unclear if there's a waistline seam in the back piece hidden by the belt. My pattern here doesn't have a back waistline seam.


(not to scale)

The top corner of the overlapping front panel is secured with a hook and a thread bar. The underlapping layer has got a thread bar at the belt edge for a button that is sewn onto the overlapping layer. Similar methods of closure were used in the Vogue pattern.

Like most couture coats, this coat is underlined, interfaced and mostly hand sewn.