How Breakfast at Tiffany’s changed the life of fashion designer Marie France Van Damme

Romantic comedy Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) stars Audrey Hepburn as eccentric New York cafe society woman Holly Golightly, who schemes to snare a rich husband while gradually becoming romantically entangled with her struggling writer neighbour. Directed by Blake Edwards and based on the 1958 Truman Capote novella of the same name, it is famed for Hepburn’s ultra-chic outfits, designed by Givenchy.

Canada-born, Hong Kong-based fashion designer Marie France Van Damme explains how the film changed her life.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s is about fashion and it’s about New York. I first saw it on television in the 1970s and just thought “Wow”. It made me look at the fashion business differently.

Audrey Hepburn fascinated me. I thought she was the most elegant woman I’d ever seen – the epitome of chic. This was the era of disco and Hepburn was so different from the other actresses we looked up to as young girls, with their big hair and miniskirts. She was impeccable.

Instantly, I thought this is what fashion’s all about. Everything shown in the film was so much more attractive than what I was living through and it was how I wanted to live my life.

Afterwards, I moved to New York by myself. I was fascinated by the way Holly lives in a little apartment but in such good taste. So when I was in New York living in a tiny apartment, I also wanted to look super glam even though I was taking the subway to work.

People often pointed out that I was not from New York – and neither was Holly (the character is revealed as hailing from rural Texas, having changed the way she presents herself after arriving in New York). A lot of people do this – go to a big city to reinvent themselves. This was the lifestyle I wanted – and I had it for a while.

Holly’s little black dress changed a lot of things in my life – it’s something you can wear all day and dress up or down. My entire collection reflects that, too: you just need that one perfect piece and you can turn it into 100 pieces. This is what I tell women today: don’t overthink it.

I realised only later that the film was shot in the early 60s. It was so avant garde and never feels like it was filmed so long ago. It’s still so relevant. Everyone who wants to go into fashion should see Breakfast at Tiffany’s.