Cristobal Balenciaga, Philippe Venet, Hubert de Givenchy

Christiane de Nicolay-Mazery, creative director at Christie's France, is the author of many books on French elegance, notably French Interiors (2009) and of The Yves Saint Laurent - Pierre Bergé Collection: The Sale of the Century (2009), both published by Flammarion.
Hubert de Givenchy began his career with Jacques Fath, Robert Piguet, and Lucien Lelong, before moving to Schiaparelli in 1947, where he spent four years of total creative freedom and happiness. The elegant and sophisticated women he met there would become his faithful clients, including Daisy Fellowes, Babe Paley, the duchess of Windsor, Lady Abdy, Countess Gazzoni Frascara, Barbara Hutton, Patricia Lopez, and Gloria Guinness. Regarded as one of the world's finest haute couture designers of all time, Givenchy created signature waredrobes for the world's most elegant women such as Audrey Hepburn, Lauren Bacall, Elizabeth Taylor, Jean Seberg, Marlene Dietrich, Jacqueline Kennedy, Grace Kelly, and Maria Callas. The dress he designed for Audrey Hepburn's role in Breakfast at Tiffany's is a great classic in the history of fashion.