GIVENCHY

Designer Overview: Hubert de Givenchy’s eponymous house has long been the arbiter of quintessential French elegance. Debuting in 1952 after having worked alongside Pierre Balmain and Christian Dior at the house of Lucien Lelong, then as an assistant to Elsa Schiaparelli, Givenchy offered stylish, sophisticated separates for the modern woman who celebrated understated feminine chic. He famously outfitted his close friend and muse, Audrey Hepburn, both on- and off-screen, and was adored by the esteemed likes of First Lady Jackie Kennedy. After his decades-long reign of women’s and men’s couture, Givenchy sold his company to the Louis Vuitton-Moet-Hennessy Group in 1988, and retired seven years later. Immediately succeeded by John Galliano, then Alexander McQueen and Julien Macdonald, Givenchy appointed the unassuming Riccardo Tisci as creative director in 2005. Paying tribute to Givenchy’s legacy while reinventing it for a new era, women are drawn to Tisci’s ladylike refinement that is darkly romantic, poetically melancholic and provocatively elegant; while men are drawn to his fresh, unpretentious, tailored vision for a modern masculinity bred from moody, slightly menacing roots.

This Season: For Spring/Summer 2010, Riccardo Tisci embraces influences from North Africa — picture a safari-meets-souk adventure — and the graphic edge of ’60s Op Art. Hits of the season are geometric black-and-white graphics for women and a nomadic-punk mood for men.

Brands Available at: IFC Mall, Pacific Place, Canton Road, Seasons Place

Categories: WOMENSWEAR, LADIES' SHOES & ACCESSORIES, MENS' SHOES & ACCESORIES, MENSWEAR

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