R.I.P. Hubert de Givenchy

Fashion legend Hubert de Givenchy died today at the age of 91. He was the last remaining designer from the Golden Age of elegant fashion in the 40s and 50s. He worked alongside Pierre Balmain and Christian Dior. After a stint working for Elsa Schiaparelli, he started his own house in 1952. He dressed Jackie Kennedy, Grace Kelly, Lauren Bacall, Jeanne Moreau, Babe Paley, and Marlene Dietrich among a list list of other top celebrities and beauties of the time, and he created the iconic "little black dress" for Audrey Hepburn to wear in "Breakfast At Tiffany's." In fact, Givenchy and Hepburn forged a very close friendship that lasted for 40 years until her death in 1993.

He sold the house to LVMH in 1988 and stepped down as head of the house in 1995. He was succeeded by John Galliano and then Alexander McQueen. Riccardo Tisci headed the house from 2005 until this month when Clare Waight Keller took over as creative director. The house of Givenchy tweeted today:

The House of Givenchy is sad to report the passing of its founder Hubert de Givenchy, a major personality of the world of French Haute Couture and a gentleman who symbolized Parisian chic and elegance for more than half a century. He will be greatly missed.

https://www.givenchy.com

BEAUTY: Clothing--Givenchy

Jesus Givenchy Christ Superstar.

Allow me to execute--pardon the pun, considering the collection's inspiration--a stream of consciousness riff on Riccardo Tisci's Spring Summer '16 collection:
Keys.
Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus Christ.
The highly superstitious Catholic community.
Latino gangs.
Prison.
Keys to prison cells.

Tisci himself said the collection is about "bad boys and bad girls" who, in sheer and lacy dresses with fringe reminiscent of Spanish shawls, came along for the ride with their men. Tim Blanks at Style.com said, "His inspiration was Jesus Christ, the most famous prisoner of all time and, as such, an icon for men in jail. It fascinated Tisci that Jesus is just as much a pinup on a cell wall as are pictures of pneumatic beauties torn from magazines. So he put them both on his catwalk." Models wandered through a series of caged cells in the open air venue and assertively flaunted their work and prison wear. Jesus showed up in vivid detail (along with what is presumably his prisoner number) and in faint, ghostly images à la the Shroud of Turin on black and white denim.

It is interesting to see the tone, texture, and palette of this collection that embraces religious iconography versus a past Givenchy collection of the same or similar tone. Look back here at Tisci's SS '13 show using images of Mary, mother of Jesus, which featured pinks, whites, and diaphanous and satin materials.

http://www.givenchy.com/en/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Givenchy

Black and red have made up a kind of standard color palette for Riccardo Tisci, head of Givenchy, for a while now, most notably in the form of a black and red American flag for his '12-'13 FW collection. So, what else can be done with black and red? It seems to be a color combination that conjures dark, sinister, even hellish images. And that seemed to be a stone's throw from a twilit world of spirits, magic, animism, rituals, gods, and zombies. Tisci zeroed in on the milieux of Haitian Voudou and Candomblé from South America.

Models walked a path of red glitter laid in a maze through the audience (Tim Blanks at Style.com likened it to a "highway to hell"). Some models wore face paint which make-up artist Pat McGrath said were versions of African masks (Candomblé is a mixture of spiritual beliefs brought with slaves taken from West Africa with Native South American beliefs and Catholicism, much like Santeria in Cuba), but looked more like Baron Samedi, one of the loa, or gods, of Haitian Voudou, usually depicted with a top hat, black tuxedo, and a white, frequently skull-like face. Black suits trimmed in devilish red, a shirt that appeared to be scorched, and an image of an upside down skull were neutrals next to a fantastic print based on the weavings of the indigenous peoples of South America, which showed up on a variety of suits and separates. Look how the print fades to black on some pieces...

But a standout turned out to be how the collection was styled--the jewelry added an absolutely perfect macabre, ghoulish touch with chicken feet (used as ingredients in Voudou rituals), fangs from wolves (? or werewolves?), crosses, bits of red coral, and bells. So daringly imaginative and AMAZING.

Below: "Baron Samedi" by photographer Matt Barnes

http://www.givenchy.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Givenchy

Riccardo Tisci, Creative Director at Givenchy, always puts his own personal passions--and obsessions--into his collections, whether it is a love for the mythical Minotaur or the American flag. In this '13-'14 Fall-Winter collection shown at Paris Fashion Week, Tisci's loves this time include the work of legendary photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and, yes, the United States. But this time it is a little difficult to tell if he is admiring or admonishing the U.S. The collection is dark and heavy, which, I suppose, is appropriate for a Fall-Winter collection, but then look at details like "Amerika" spelled with a "k" on a shirt, and the slate, charcoal, and black upside down American flag. Bone to pick? Get in line. And then there are sweaters that are a frightening Frankenstein-like hybrid of football uniform padding, miscellaneous sports costume flourishes, and the stitching from an actual baseball...followed by a shirt that has a baseball and skull melting into each other. Surely this must be a comment on the bizarre sports-obsessed culture in the Unites States. It all feels Fascistic and totalitarian--even his use, in homage to Mapplethorpe, of black and white photography. The images exist in small, tight, regimented boxes, sewn as patches (like a Fascistic uniform) onto breasts or sleeves. Even when not adorned with any detail or image, the pieces in this collection reflect might and intimidation, like the leather apron/smock in the last image. Join the club or die. Even the runway was limned in rows of white candles, describing the shape of the space in which the show took place, like some arcane occult ritual. Some of the world's most infamous Fascists and dictators have been fascinated with mystic and occult ideas. Am I reading too much into this? When studied, this is a pretty opinionated collection.

But Tisci swears his love for the United States. "I've been obsessed with America since I was a kid," he explained. "It's the typical Italian dream of someone who wants to be somebody."

http://www.givenchy.com/
Photos via http://www.style.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Givenchy

Riccardo Tischi at Givenchy continually finds new and interesting ways to express his dark Goth leanings. And his Spring Summer '13 collection at Paris Fashion Week was focused on Madonna. No, not the sinewy, breast-baring Madonna, THE Madonna. In a hall filled with frankincense and a pre-show rumbling organ, Renaissance and Russian Orthodox (and perhaps even Art Nouveau!) iconographic images of Mary were stripped of context and slapped onto black, white and... wait for it...pink ensembles that often resembled a modern take on ecclesiastical garments. Just look at the sheer black or white cassocks worn over or usually under other pieces! The resulting shapes were minimalist and architectural while the images almost seemed like a sort of branding. The final look though, was more subtle with white and cream tone-on-tone tops, jackets, and coats printed with a faint image of The Virgin, eyes turned upward toward heaven...

http://www.givenchy.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Givenchy

Riccardo Tisci's childhood obsessions were the American flag and the Minotaur and his '12-'13 FW collection for Givenchy took these motifs and mashed them with his traditional Goth flair, substituting black for white in the "red, white, and blue" of the flag. Models sported huge nose rings like bulls and he sent out the by-now-expected men in skirts. As one observer in the Style.com video said, the skirts look more and more masculine the more Tisci does them. Perhaps we are just acclimating to the look. But the swagger of a man in a skirt is undeniable.

http://www.givenchy.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing

Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy. Surprise! No Gothic black. Instead, we have white and green.

For SS '12, Tisci infused his collection with dazzling white, fuchsia and lilac tropical flowers, wet and dewy crystals, sequins, and green green green from olive to mint! It felt hot and exotic and fresh like Kauai, Bali or Fiji. The Gothic black might have fallen by the wayside, but the skirts made the transition nicely. Tisci has always liked men in skirts and really, why not? As Tim Blanks at Style.com says of Tisci, "Men in skirts? Get used to them. It's warriorwear from years back."


http://www.givenchy.com/