Audrey Hepburn has long been known for her classic and trend-setting style, be that from her quintessential mid-century outfits in Roman Holiday or her 1970s street style. On the screen, we became no stranger to seeing the beloved actress in a white wedding dress from Sabrina to Funny Face, inspiring brides for generations into the future. While stylish on-screen, Hepburn also turned some truly beautiful looks in her personal life, including her 2, or 3, wedding gowns. Let’s take a look at the 2 gowns you may be familiar with, and the wedding dress that never was.

For her 1954 nuptials to Mel Ferrer, Old Hollywood starlet Audrey Hepburn wore a darling tea-length gown with high neck and puff sleeves designed by Pierre Balmain, perhaps one of her most famous looks and arguably one of the most infamous gowns of the 20th century. Hepburn would become no stranger to a tea-length wedding gown, wearing a ballerina-inspired dress in the 1957 film Funny Face. The Edith Head design, with full tulle petticoat, has gone on to inspire many a bride - most recently Zoë Kravitz.

Left: 1954 wedding. Image: Ernst Haas. Right: 1969 wedding.

Hepburn would once again draw the eyes of fashion fans with her second wedding in 1969 to Italian psychiatrist Andrea Dotti. She chose her close personal friend Hubert de Givenchy, the mastermind behind that little black dress in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, to create her frock. Given the popular styles of the time, the dress was a high-necked, tube-style mini dress with long sleeves (clearly, something Hepburn enjoyed) in a delicate pale pink tone. Much like her wedding look in 1954, she accessorised with a graceful pair of white gloves. Instead of a veil, she wore a matching headscarf.

While many people may be aware of these two famous wedding looks, you may not know that there is, in fact, a third wedding gown from 1952. However, this one never made it down the aisle, at least not on Audrey Hepburn.

Before she became the star of movies like Roman Holiday and Funny Face, Hepburn was engaged to a British businessman, James Hanson, whom she had known for several years. After having her wedding dress designed and fitted, a date set and calling the relationship ‘love at first sight’, she called the marriage off. Her reasoning being that the demands of her career would most likely get in the way of having a true and happy relationship. In a public statement surrounding the ordeal, Hepburn said “when I get married, I want to be really married”.

So, what about this lost wedding dress? Hepburn called on Italian designers the Fontana sisters, based in Rome, to create her first ever wedding gown. Given the time period, the gown has a very distinct, ball gown-esque, early fifties silhouette. Floor length with a fitted bodice, elbow-length sleeves and a wide boat neckline, the silk gown was the epitome of elegance and grace, perfectly befitting the wearer. Hepburn was even photographed wearing the gown at one of her fittings, choosing to accessorise with elbow-length gloves and a long, delicate veil.

When the engagement was broken off, something had to be done with the dress. Hepburn, the ever generous person she was and ambassador of Unicef, asked the Fontana sisters to donate the dress to someone else saying, "I want my dress to be worn by another girl for her wedding, perhaps someone who couldn't ever afford a dress like mine—the most beautiful, poor Italian girl you can find." The dress ended up being worn by Amiable Altobella to her farm wedding.

Years later, in 2009, the dress was sold by Altobella at an auction in London for $23,000. Altobella clearly had fond memories attached to the gown saying "I have had a happy marriage, so the dress brought me luck."