‘Little black dress’ designer Givenchy dies aged 91

PARIS: Hubert de Givenchy, the aristocratic French fashion designer famous for the “Little black dress” and styling Audrey Hepburn and Jackie Kennedy, has died aged 91, his partner said Monday.

Givenchy set the template for ladylike chic in the 1950s and 1960s, dressing everyone from Princess Grace of Monaco to Jane Fonda. His longtime partner, the former haute couture designer Philippe Venet, announced his death through the Givenchy fashion house, saying he had died in his sleep on Saturday. “It is with huge sadness that we inform you that Hubert Taffin de Givenchy has died,” it said in a statement to AFP.

With his perfect manners and old-school charm, the tall and handsome designer was the very acme of French elegance and refinement. But it was his 40-year friendship with his muse Hepburn, who he met on the set of the Billy Wilder’s Oscar-winning comedy “Sabrina” in 1953, that helped make him a fashion legend. The narrow-collared suits and slim woollen dresses Givenchy designed for the gamine actress for “Funny Face” and “How to Steal a Million” made both of them style icons. The black sheath dress Givenchy created for the opening scenes of the “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” was perhaps the most famous “little black dress” of all time — even if fellow Paris fashion legend Coco Chanel is credited with inventing the garment.