Portman borrows Hepburn's little black dress

updated 4:25 p.m. ET Oct. 6, 2006

NEW YORK - Audrey Hepburn has a clone: Natalie Portman.

The 25-year-old Portman, wearing the iconic black column dress worn by Hepburn in 1961’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” graces the cover of the upcoming issue of Harper’s Bazaar.

A smiling Portman — often called the modern-day Hepburn — channels the spritely Holly Golightly by showing off the back of the dress, which was designed by Givenchy. Pearls are draped around her neck. Her hair, set with a black headband, is swept into a stylish updo in an update of Golightly’s signature beehive.

“I did feel very elegant suddenly,” Portman tells the magazine. “I mean, you can’t possibly measure up to Audrey Hepburn; there’s no comparison. But the elegance that she exuded was transmitted to the dress, you know, the feeling, the emotion of it.”

The dress, one of three versions made for the 1961 movie, will be sold to the highest bidder on Dec. 5 at Christie’s auction house in London. It’s expected to fetch as much as $130,000.

Proceeds from the dress will go to the City of Joy Aid charity, which provides aid to India’s poor.

Portman, whose screen credits include “Closer,” “V for Vendetta” and the “Star Wars” movies, was anxious about wearing it.

“I was so nervous that I wasn’t going to fit,” Portman says. “Everyone kept telling me how small it was, and I’m not the type who can starve myself. I’m small, but it’s not like I’m see-through.”

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