Givenchy

Once deemed the “handsomest of French couturiers,” Hubert de Givenchy was best known for his simplified forms and clean, precise style. Givenchy designed chic dresses, coats, and suits worn by women as diverse as Lauren Bacall, Greta Garbo, Elizabeth Taylor, Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis, and Wallis Simpson. Yet his most celebrated client was actress Audrey Hepburn. Inspired by her youth, gamine look, and elegant spirit, Givenchy dressed her onscreen and off. Their unique partnership established her as a leader in fashion. “His are the only clothes in which I am myself,” Hepburn once confessed. “He is far more than a couturier; he is a creator of personality.”

Hubert James Taffin de Givenchy, known as “Le Grand Hubert” in Parisian fashion circles, was born in Beauvais, France in 1927. At age seventeen, he moved to Paris, where he worked for couturiers Jacques Fath, Robert Piguet, Lucien Lelong, and Elsa Schiaparelli. In 1952, Givenchy launched his first couture collection “filled with inventive, amusing new ideas and great youthfulness.” With the fashion world driven by Dior’s New Look, Givenchy’s collection—comprised of deluxe separates that included cotton skirts and blouses—was lauded for its invigorating spirit.

In 1953, Givenchy was introduced to the couturier he most admired: Cristobal Balenciaga. The appreciation became mutual, and Balenciaga served as Givenchy’s mentor for many years. When Balenciaga retired in 1968, he sent most of his clients to Givenchy. In 1995, Givenchy retired. His successors included John Galliano and Alexander McQueen, two of the most influential fashion designers of the twenty-first century.

In 2005, Italian born Riccardo Tisci was named creative director at Givenchy. Tisci, who was educated at Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design in London, created both ready-to-wear and couture, and infused Givenchy with his darkly romantic style. "He has a classical point of view with a punk-rock sensibility," notes Madonna. However, Tisci prefers to describe his designs as conceptual and sensual. Inspired by the house’s history, Tisci said, “I wanted to keep the elegance, the chicness, the DNA of the house but bring the darkness, the romanticism, and the sensuality . . . that were missing.". Tisci left the brand in 2017, taking up the role of chief creative officer at Burberry in 2018. Clare Waight Keller, formerly of Chloé, served as artistic director of Givenchy from 2017 to 2020. During that time the British designer – the first female leader of the brand – brought “an ’80s-tinged glamour to her womenswear; a svelte, sometimes retro beauty to menswear; and an experimental exuberance to the house’s couture shows,” according to Steff Yotka of Vogue. She also famously designed the wedding gown of Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, in 2018.

American designer Matthew M. Williams served as Givenchy creative designer from 2020 to 2023, infusing his streetwear aesthetic into the heritage French house, while continuing to design his own brand, 1017 Alyx 9SM. Maliha Shoaib of Vogue describes Williams’s legacy at Givenchy as “drawing inspiration from the archives, constructing elegant evening wear and introducing a distinct tailoring style.” The in-house Givenchy team designed the brand’s collections over most of 2024 until British designer Sarah Burton was appointed creative director in September of that year. Burton came from Alexander McQueen, where she had worked with the founding designer for thirteen years before taking the helm of the brand upon McQueen’s death in 2010. Her design style, honed at McQueen, is known for its “romantic vision, skilled construction and references encompassing sci-fi, British history, the rigor of cavalry tailoring and the wonders of the natural world,” according to Guy Trebay of the New York Times.