Hepburn's dress eclipses auction estimate

The dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in the opening of Breakfast At Tiffany’s has sold for £467,000 at auction, eclipsing all predictions of its value.

Experts at Christie’s in London had placed the Givenchy piece at between £50,000 and £70,000, but it soared in price in a ten-minute bidding war.

It was being sold by the La Pierre family, having being donated by designer Hubert Givenchy, for the benefit of their City of Joy Aid charity, which tackles poverty in India.

Dominic Lapierre expressed his happiness at the final selling price. "There are tears in my eyes," he declared. "I am absolutely dumbfounded to believe that a piece of cloth which belonged to such a magical actress will now enable me to buy bricks and cement to put the most destitute children in the world into schools."

Hepburn wore the dress as the eccentric Holly Golightly character in the 1961 movie. She is seen emerging from a New York taxi in it, then looking at jewellery in the window of Tiffany & Co.