Givenchy

Givenchy is a French luxury fashion and perfume house. It hosts the brand of haute couture clothing, accessories and Parfums Givenchy, perfumes and cosmetics.

The house of Givenchy was founded in 1952 by designer Hubert de Givenchy and is a member of Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture et du Pret-a-Porter. It is owned by luxury conglomerate LVMH.

From 2 May 2017 until 10 April 2020, its artistic director was Clare Waight Keller, the first woman to hold that position. On 15 June 2020, Givenchy announced that Matthew M. Williams, of 1017 ALYX 9SM would succeed Clare Waight Keller as the Creative Director of the House.

History

Formation and first years

The House of Givenchy

In 1952, Hubert de Givenchy founded his own luxury house and launched a new collection Les Séparables with some floaty skirts and puffy blouses made from raw cotton.

Hubert de Givenchy

Givenchy achieved critical acclaim with Vogue magazine praising his "wonderful first collection"14. The collection included the Bettina Blouse a white shirt named in honour of Bettina Graziani, which was then painted in one of René Gruau's works.

The New York Times magazine published an article entitled "A Star Is Born" and l’Album du Figaro also wrote a feature stating that "In one night, Hubert de Givenchy became one of fashion’s most famous children with his first collection."[citation needed]

Models such as Suzy Parker and Dorian Leigh became muses of the house.

In terms of innovation, he used 'shirting', a raw cotton similar to pattern paper, to create his chic and casual collections.[6]

In 1954, Hubert de Givenchy presented the first shirt dress (which later evolved in to a sack dress in 1957). He was the first high fashion designer to create a luxury ready-to-wear clothing line, called "Givenchy Université", which was produced in Paris using machinery imported from the United States. Before he was able to sign for this new collection, Hubert de Givenchy bought all the shares of his fashion house back from Louis Fontaine.