Loud changes in the fashion world continue. 2017, the anniversary year for the Givenchy house, founded in 1952, began with a scandal: Riccardo Tisci, who had determined the face of the house since the mid-2000s, decided to leave.
Rumors that Riccardo Tisci would leave the post of creative director of the house began to circulate on January 31 and were confirmed on February 2. According to one version, the reason for the great designer’s departure was the intrigues of his friend Donatella Versace, who allegedly finally managed to lure him to her place.
The basis for such assumptions is the close friendship of the designers, which in 2015 even resulted in an incredible advertising campaign for Givenchy with the participation of Donatella Versace. In 2015, having become the advertising face of Givenchy, she made a loud statement to the press: “I believe that you need to break the rules. Riccardo Tisci is incredibly talented and also a friend of mine. We are family. I want to get rid of the old system, work together, support each other and make the fashion industry a truly global community.”
Whether she was talking about a one-time collaboration or about working for one brand is still unclear, but if Donatella herself can afford to break the rules (Versace is a private company), then for Riccardo Tisci this was a very bold step (the house he headed until the last moment , part of the LVMH group).
Riccardo Tisci, Donatella Versace and Naomi Campbell
Alessandro Bianchi/ReutersThe ex-director himself claims that he is leaving his position due to the fact that his contract has come to an end.
Another reason can be considered Tisci’s long-standing dream of creating clothes of her own brand. The designer had plans to launch his collection even before working at Givenchy, which he began in 2005. According to him, having received a job offer from a fashion house, he did not want to agree. However, financial difficulties forced the designer to accept the offer.
The women's and men's Pre-fall 2017 collections, as well as the Haute Couture collection shown in January, were the last that the Italian fashion designer created for Givenchy. At the Paris pret-a-porter fashion week, which will take place from February 28 to March 7, the Givenchy show will still take place, but the line was created under the creative direction of the house's in-house designers. It is still unknown who will take the place of the new creative director.
Over 12 years of work, Riccardo Tisci managed to develop a corporate style for the house, which was lost after the retirement of the brand’s founder, Hubert de Givenchy, in 1995.
During Givenchy's time, the brand personified elegance and aristocracy, which suited the designer's muses - and. But in the mid-90s, the era of glamor began. Between Givenchy and Tisci, the brand was led by designers who were more suited to other fashion houses.
Charles Platiau/Reuters
In 1995, by decision of the head of LVMH, he was invited to replace Hubert de Givenchy. He instantly attracted attention with his elaborate and at the same time provocative collections, demonstrated with a theatrical effect that was unexpected for that time. However, his talent was more suitable for the house of Christian Dior, so the designer was transferred to another brand, and his place was taken by. But he was not suitable for this position either.
The collections created by the designer have been subjected to serious criticism more than once. Then fashion designer Julian MacDonald took over the post, but he didn’t last too long.
Tisci, who joined Givenchy in 2005, not only brought stability to the legendary brand, but also revived it for a new generation of luxury consumers.
Now Givenchy is associated with sexual provocation, which echoes street fashion.
It was Ricardo who introduced the gothic trend in clothing, he also came up with a print with a huge star, and his T-shirts with snarling Rottweilers (autumn-winter 2012 collection) became iconic.
Photo report: How Riccardo Tisci entered fashion history
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Tisci wanted people to wear his clothes different ages, gender and race. One of his favorite muses is the transsexual Lea T, whom Tisci made the face of the fall 2010 collection.
The designer has repeatedly created images for world-famous stars. Concert dresses and Beyoncé evening dresses for Madonna and Rooney Mara, wedding dress. One of latest ideas Ricardo was inspired to expand Givenchy's reach as a lifestyle brand by introducing a range of clothing for babies and children.
Riccardo Tisci took Givenchy to a new level. Today the brand has 72 stores (there were seven before Tisci arrived). In addition, the company recently took over the direct distribution of its collections in two key luxury markets: Dubai and Singapore. With the arrival of Riccardo Tisci, Givenchy's profits have increased more than sixfold, according to market sources. And the number of company employees has tripled - from 290 in 2005 to 930 currently.
Riccardo Tisci is the new creative director of Burberry since March 12, 2018The news of the new appointment at Burberry shocked the fashion community and excited all his sympathizers. Such a move was not expected from the brand management. Riccardo Tisci, former creative director of Givenchy, a lover of decadent luxury, eccentric retro-futurism and dark sensuality and - Burberry, a brand that is usually associated with minimalist classics or, in lately, with a democratic and relaxed athleisure. What can this “hot” Italian bring to a brand with a “cool” and “functional” British aesthetic? If you think about it - not so little. Once you dig a little deeper, it becomes clear: the appointment of Riccardo Tisci to this position is quite natural.
Englishman Christopher Bailey, who announced his departure from Burberry in October 2017, remained in his post for 16 years. He is considered (and this is absolutely right!) the person who inspired the brand new life. Revenue under him beat all imaginable and unimaginable forecasts, and the brand, which back in the 90s had an image of being conservative and aimed primarily at people of middle age and older, has noticeably rejuvenated. First of all, thanks to the course towards digitalization - Bailey, a talented visionary, was one of the first to take it, several years before the era of the craze for social networks. In particular, back in the 2000s, Bailey launched The Art Of Trench project - a website about the history of the legendary trench coat, where anyone could upload a photo of themselves wearing the iconic Burberry raincoat. This was in 2009 and there was a whole year left before the advent of Instagram.
Among the Briton’s other “digital” achievements are online broadcasts of shows, during which anyone could buy the item they liked; collaboration with Snapchat, Google and Apple Music and serious “modernization” of branded boutiques - for example, they now have screens that display all the information about the items presented in the store.
In addition, Bailey rejuvenated Burberry's advertising campaigns. During his era, idols of millennials and then “Generation Z” began to star for the fashion house and its beauty division: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Cara Delevingne, Adwoa Aboah, Jude Law’s daughter Iris and Pierce Brosnan’s son Dylan.
Gradually - although not immediately - Burberry clothing itself began to become “modernized”. If, for example, back in the SS2014 season, Bailey focused on conventional femininity, graphic cut and minimalist, although not boring, classics, then already in the SS2017 collection there is a noticeable movement towards fashionable asexual androgyny, the creative director’s craving for asymmetrical cut in the spirit of deconstructivism.
Further - more. In the summer of 2017, the brand launched a collaboration with Gosha Rubchinsky, a designer whose name in the name of a brand or collection today in itself adds a hundred points to relevance. Sportswear with the legendary Burberry check appeared at Rubchinsky twice - in the SS18 and FW18-19 seasons. Thus, Bailey not only once again proved his ability to “keep his nose to the wind”, but also ironically played up one of the stereotypes associated with Burberry: in his native Britain, things from this brand are often associated with the style of “chavs”, rude guys from the outskirts of the nearest relatives of our “gopniks”. Around the 80s, these “brave” guys actively wore baseball caps and T-shirts in the same check - often fake, but who cares? By allowing Gaucher, the leading apologist of the hip style, to combine these items with his aesthetic, Bailey returned them to fashionable “legitimacy.”
Around the same time, the designer himself also began to gravitate towards the ultra-fashionable athleisure style. No more tight skirts and “office” knitted dresses. Their place was taken by windbreaker jackets, wide track pants, oversized coats (but, of course, checkered ones!) and stretched, “aged” cardigans.
Bailey dedicated his latest collection for Burberry (SS18) to LGBT youth and his own youth, which fell in the 80s and 90s - decades that, by no coincidence, are increasingly cited by modern designers. Models walked the catwalk in puffy vests, long sleeves and rainbow-print ponchos. In addition, the collection contains items in acidic shades, as if painted with graffiti, and “wild” looks made up, for example, of oversized sweaters and multi-tiered long skirts.
In a word, Bailey managed to make the brand entrusted to him in a good way crazy, reckless and, as a result, truly fashionable, and not just due to the fact that it belongs to the fashion industry. The appointment of Riccardo Tisci in light of this is a completely reasonable step, fitting perfectly into the strategy to rejuvenate yesterday’s “brand for respectable pensioners.”
Italian Tisci has been in the fashion industry for almost 30 years. In the 90s and the first half of the 2000s, he collaborated with Missoni, Antonio Berardi, Puma, and also worked on his own brand of the same name. But it was only when he assumed the post of creative director of Givenchy in 2005 that the young designer truly became famous. According to rumors (which are most likely true), during the interview with the bosses of the fashion house, he was the only candidate who did not mention the name of Audrey Hepburn, with whom the style of the classic Givenchy is primarily associated. And that is why the management chose a candidate who was unknown to anyone in those years. Parisian fashion house desperately needed someone who could make his clothes desirable to the younger generation - just as the ancient British brand Burberry needed it in 2001.
Tisci lived up to expectations. He, like Bailey, managed to completely modernize the brand under his control. Some even think it's too much. Thus, Hubert de Givenchy himself said in an interview with the online publication Women’s Wear Daily that Ricardo’s works for Givenchy “do not feel the spirit of home.” The Italian retorted, answering that he, like the legendary founder, has “his own Audreys” - model Mariacarla Boscono, artist and actionist Marina Abramovic, transgender model Lea T. and rock diva Courtney Love. This is not the entire list of Tisci's muses. During his time at the helm, Ciara, Rihanna, Beyonce and Kim Kardashian became Givenchy's friends. The latter even married Kanye West (another great friend of the brand) in a Givenchy dress by Riccardo Tisci.
“Kim for me is the personification of the modern woman,” says the designer. “She is the embodiment of today’s society.” If someone doesn’t like it, that’s their problem.”
But, of course, it’s not just about the ability to gather a pool of “your” people around yourself. Givenchy clothes also became different with the arrival of Tisci. During his 12 years of work in the fashion house, he managed to establish himself as a lover of solemn, but not gloomy “Gothic”, baroque-style excessive decoration, black color and architectural cut.
The Italian loves experiments that border on shocking. He put models on the catwalk wearing masks and pierced makeup, and created fantastic avant-garde headdresses and costumes that looked like Martian robes.
It’s unlikely that the shy Audrey would have decided to try any of this, but the new generation of fashionistas undoubtedly liked this aesthetic. The brand's revenue increased exponentially, and the FW15 collection was almost completely sold out within the first few days of sales. The brand was also loved by A-list stars such as Madonna and Julia Roberts. In 2012, Tisci canceled couture shows, saying that they were out of date and impractical, and that he preferred to show haute couture items on stars who wore them on the red carpet. True, in 2016 the couture line was resumed: Tisci combined the show with a men's show and released a lookbook. And then he invited industry professionals and clients to the studio so that they could see with their own eyes how made-to-measure outfits are created.
Hubert de Givenchy spoke more than once about modern trends, calling them “fashion for ugliness,” and watched with sadness as against the background of his name, from season to season, real outcasts flaunted, daring and far from the muse of the famous couturier -. He had his own idea of what high fashion should be.
Givenchy's first collection was made of cotton
The “Bettina” blouse from Givenchy’s first collection is named after the fashion model and the face of the company, Bettina Gradiani.
To open own house fashion, 25-year-old Hubert borrowed money from his relatives.
His first collection (1953) was made of cotton and attracted the interest of only two dozen spectators.
The second collection was released the following year, and in 1955 the couturier received his first Oscar - for the costumes for the film Sabrina. By the way, the brand was not even mentioned in the credits.
Two years later, Givenchy made his debut as a perfume creator: the first fragrance was developed specifically for Audrey, and she wore the perfume alone. Only three years later the perfume went on public sale.
But the era of Givenchy (50-60s) is still called that because of the ready-made dress, which began to arrive in stores and was accessible to any woman. This is how high fashion hit the streets for the first time.
The fashion house is sold, the style is declared obsolete
Givenchy believed that fashion should develop gradually, slowly - only then can one truly fall in love with the beauty of the dress. In his opinion, high fashion is not about comfort or functionality, but about style and grace. Details and fit should be the highlight of any ensemble—and nothing too funky or grungy.
Bernard Arnault, photo: Masatoshi Okauchi/REX/Shutterstock
That is why he did not see eye to eye with the new management of the fashion house when, in 1988, he sold the brand, which he had owned for 36 years, to the Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy concern. The owner of Givenchy was Bernard Arnault, one of the largest French businessmen. In pursuit of popularity, he acted decisively and too radically; the outdated style of the brand, in his opinion, needed a good shake-up.
John Galliano in 1995, photo: Times Newspapers/REX/Shutterstock
Bernard Arnault launched John Galliano and Alexander McQueen onto the catwalk one after another. It was these decisions that ushered in the era of the designer as a rock star and led to the collapse of the low-key culture of post-war haute couture. Elegance was replaced by a new cycle of personality-brand wars, which played out in full splendor on the stage of international publicity and provided spectacular advertising for the label.
Alexander McQueen, show Givenchy in 1997, photo: Steve Wood/REX/Shutterstock
Alexander McQueen was constantly criticized for the results of his work as creative director of the fashion house. His first collection in this position was considered a failure. Subsequent works also caused a lot of dissatisfaction and refusal to accept his shocking nature.
Julian Macdonald at the Givenchy show in 2004, photo: Steve Wood/REX/Shutterstock
The next creative director, Julian MacDonald, often went against his contemporaries' ideas about beauty. At the beginning of the 2000s, the fashion for romance, femininity and lightness reigned on the streets of Paris. His shows were embarrassing for their overly demonstrative aggressiveness and sexuality. He was called inconsistent and short-sighted.
Hubert de Givenchy predicted the end of high fashion
All this could not please the couturier Hubert Givenchy - he drew inspiration from other images. Looking at the boutiques overflowing with clothes on the streets of Paris, Givenchy was sad that times had changed radically: what they were selling now, in his opinion, was meaningless and empty, and was more related to advertising than to art.
In one of his last interviews, Hubert Givenchy lamented the fact that nervousness and aggressiveness took precedence over elegance and femininity. In this regard, the couturier suggested that high fashion was coming to an end - and he would not want to watch it.
Ten years after his departure from the fashion house, Hubert said that the race to surprise the consumer is destructive for high fashion, when three or four times a year a designer is obliged to produce something radically different from the previous collection. This inevitably leads to shocking behavior, which closely borders on vulgarity.
Audrey Hepburn embodied Givenchy style
Audrey Hepburn and Hubert Givenchy
A constant was Audrey Hepburn, a woman who personified elegance in the master’s mind. He himself characterized his relationship with her as “a kind of marriage.” When the legendary couturier retired, he dedicated his book of sketches to Audrey. He stated that all his life he admired her grace and ability to choose and wear clothes. We have made a selection of films in which Audrey Hepburn shone in Givenchy dresses. How many can you guess?
Another famous muse of the fashion house was the first lady of the United States, Jacqueline Kennedy, who often visited official receptions I was wearing dresses from this brand. In the nineties, Laetitia Casta in a short top became the face of the brand. Then came the 2000s with Justin Timberlake in a hat and biker jacket and the aggressively appealing Uma Thurman.
Despite the different nature of the created images, all the muses were united by what the maestro valued most: they could walk down the street unnoticed and at the same time shine on the best catwalks in the world.
Return to the elegance of the first collections
May 4, 2017 at 1:15 PDT
The current faces of the fashion empire are once again promoting the label's inherent nobility: Simon Baker, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Liv Tyler and Amanda Seyfried...
In 2005, Italian Riccardo Tisci took over as creative director, bringing back the brand's elegance and positive reviews from critics. He introduced black, leather and velvet into the collections, while returning the original graceful simplicity to the models. He was again inspired by Hubert's elegant ideas, he even made copies of the couturier's sketches and gave them a new sound.
The designer created images for stars: Rihanna and Beyoncé, Madonna, Jessica Chastain and Rooney Mara, Kim Kardashian. Tisci wanted his clothes to be worn by people of different ages, genders and races. Riccardo Tisci stepped down from his post in 2017, having managed to take the brand to a new stage.
After him, the British woman Claire Wyatt Keller, who managed to work for Chloé, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Gucci, and Pringle of Scotland, became the director of the brand. The announcement of her appointment was accompanied by the quote: “True elegance is characterized by naturalness and simplicity.” Is the Givenchy era coming back?
Posted by Givenchy Beauty (@givenchybeauty) Sep 4, 2017 at 8:07 am PDT
(Riccardo Tisci; born August 8, 1974) – famous Italian fashionable. In 1999 he graduated from the prestigious London educational institution Central Saint Martins Academy.
In 2005, he was appointed to the post of creative department designer women's fashion and French Givenchy. In 2008, he also began managing the men's fashion and men's departments of Givenchy.
The designer's passion for the Gothic and the era of minimalism, embodied in his works for the Givenchy fashion house, helped attract a new wave of attention to the brand from critics and buyers. Before Tisci came to the post of creative director of the brand, reviews of Givenchy were rather vague and intermittent, but now the designer is called the future of the fashion house. Critics say he revitalized Givenchy with his precision and unusual imagination.
In February 2017, the designer decided to leave the Givenchy Fashion House after working as the creative director of the brand for 12 years.
Biography
Riccardo Tisci was born in 1974 in the Italian city of Taranto, founded by the inhabitants of Sparta as a city-state back in 706 BC, and famous for numerous myths about mermaids and other sea creatures. This mysterious theme can be seen from time to time in Tisci’s design works of different directions.
The youngest of nine children, Riccardo, was the only son in the family. His mother Elmerida lost her husband very early and was forced to raise her children alone. The family was so poor that the state almost took the children away from Elmerida in order to take them under their care. Riccardo himself, as a child, wore the clothes of his sisters, altered for him. Without money for school trips and other trips, the mother constantly came up with entertainment for the children, trying to compensate for the lack of what others had. But one thing was always enough for Tisha: he literally bathed in the love of nine caring women.
“We never had enough money, so my childhood was difficult. The ingredients of my creativity were Latin romanticism and the forces I needed.”
“We were poor. Poor in the sense that they ate mostly once a day.”
Tisci grew up in the Italian commune of Cermenate and, in order to somehow support his family, from the age of 12 he took on any job, from plastering to playing the role of Santa Claus during the Christmas holidays. In addition, Riccardo distributed leaflets, worked in nightclubs and was an assistant to local florists.
IN early age The boy showed a unique talent for drawing. He plunged into the mythological, invented world of centaurs, and later became interested in music: he began listening to the Cure group and became obsessed with modern musical culture and.
“Honestly, I love art and music even more than I love fashion.”
In 1990, Riccardo won an internship at the textile company Faro in Como, which later allowed him to work for Paloma Picasso, creating patterns, drawings and designs.
Tisci excelled at school, but due to poverty and the inability to pay for education, he had no prospects for further education. At the age of seventeen, disillusioned with the policies of Italian President Sandro Pertini, Riccardo decided to try his luck by moving to London.
“The moment my feet set foot in London, I knew this was my chance. I felt the energy of this city."
"I came to London to survive."
During his several weeks in London, the young man managed not only to master English, but also to find work in hotels and restaurants in the city. One day on the subway he picked up a free newspaper and saw an advertisement for the London College of Fashion. Tishi entered the training without any problems, and Priyesh Shah became his mentor. It was he who noticed Riccardo’s unique talent and got him an internship with his business partner. Berardi, in turn, encouraged Tisci to enroll in the prestigious Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. The young man managed to successfully pass the entrance exams, but he did not have the money to attend the Academy. Willie Walters, director of the fashion course, insisted that the young man not give up trying to start studying and turned to the state for a scholarship. Tisci subsequently won a grant which allowed him to enter the second year of a three-year training program at Central Saint Martins.
“I dreamed of being independent, having a real opportunity to express myself, learning to sew.”
In 1999, Tisci graduated with honors and, despite the dark style dominant at the time, proved that he could attract attention with the sexuality and lightness of being expressed in his thesis, which was inspired by the films of Pasolini and Fellini. To attend Ricciardo's graduation show, his mother left Italy for the first time and took the first flight in her life. Since then, she has not missed a single show of her son.
After studying the archives of the fashion house, Tisci decided to continue working in the direction that characterized the brand in the 50s and 60s. He created complete looks, adding accessories, shoes, and even keeping in mind the woman who would wear it all. He came to the office at 6 am, along with the cleaners, and left workplace after midnight. One fine day, having learned about such dedication to his work, Hubert Givenchy himself invited the young designer to breakfast at his mansion.
“He was so nice and welcoming. And he didn’t talk about fashion at all during the meeting.”
After showing Tisci's first collection for Givenchy Haute Couture, Queen Rania of Jordan called the fashion house's office and asked Riccardo to design for her complete wardrobe. When the designer arrived in London, the Queen greeted him fully dressed in Ricardo Tisci.
Unlike most other designers who worked at Givenchy after the departure of the brand's founder, Riccardo Tisci achieved not only positive feedback critics, but also contributed to a significant improvement in the financial situation of the House. In his collections, he presented not only stylish and original, but also practical, wearable wardrobe items. His Haute Couture collections were also a great success.
“When I started working, we only had 5 Haute Couture clients. Now there are 29 of them."
In 2008, in addition to the lines of women's clothing and accessories that he already managed, Riccardo Tisci began to develop collections of clothing and accessories for men. Here he also left his mark, offering unexpected and bold solutions, for example, sweatshirts in sequins or lace pink ones.
“You can find fashion anywhere these days. It's quite strange. When I was a child, Versace looked like Versace, and Armani looked like Armani. You could always tell who did what, no matter whether you liked it or not. Now I see similarities in many things. But only those who follow their own path and work on their own style will achieve success.”
Under the Givenchy label, the designer also designed costumes for Madonna's "Sticky & Sweet" tour in 2008 and for the song "Candy Shop" in 2009. In addition, Tisci created the singer’s clothes for everyday life.
In 2009, the designer began developing the first inexpensive line of the fashion house, Givenchy Redux.
In the Givenchy fall-winter 2011 collection, Riccardo Tisci included the famous transsexual model Lea T, who worked with him for many years and was his assistant. In the same year, after long work with the main “nose” of the Givenchy company, the designer presented a new fragrance of the brand – “Dahlia Noir”.
Also in 2011, the fashion designer was named the main contender for the post fired from the House. At the end of the year it became known that this information was not confirmed.
In February 2017, the designer decided to leave the Givenchy Fashion House.
Other projects
In 2008, Riccardo Tisci oversaw the creation of the 8th issue of A Magazine. The designer also took part in creating separate issues for a number of other glossy publications, for example, Dazed & Confused, Visionaire, Muse.
His boundless love for music led the designer to collaborate with famous hip-hop artists Jay-Z and Kanye West. In 2011, he became the creative director of their joint album Watch The Throne, designing the cover art for the disc and two singles ("H.A.M" and "Otis").
Also in 2011, Tisci collaborated with the world famous brand. For this brand he created an exclusive sneaker model.
“When I do something, I put my all into it.”
Awards and ratings
In 2008, Marie Claire awarded Tisci the title of best designer.
Riccardo Tisci's blog: www.ablogcuratedby.com/riccardotisci
Givenchy official website: www.givenchy.com
Interview of Donatella Versace with Riccardo Tisci for Interview magazine (June 2011)
D.V.:Let's talk about yours latest collection, which I find very beautiful and sexy. I would love to wear all the things!
R.T.: Bravo! In fact, the collection is very Donatella-esque because it is about a strong woman. I find inspiration from different sources, and one of these sources is the house of Versace. You know, when I was a little boy, we lived very poorly. My dad passed away when I was 4 or 5 years old. I grew up with my mother and eight sisters. These are nine incredible women and all a bit “a la Donatella Versace.” Real, strong women from the South of Italy, women who had sensuality. They had confidence in their bodies and their femininity.
D.V.:The fact that you have eight sisters, in my opinion, is very good.
R.T.: Absolutely right. And even if they did not have the financial means to dress fashionably, they were women with graceful style. The elegance of the South is a very strong elegance, and I try to convey that to others. This is sexual elegance, or, to put it another way, less chaste. It was the end of the 70s and the beginning of the 80s, a special time not only for the Versace fashion house, but also for me, since my sister, who worked in a hairdresser, brought home fashion magazines on Saturdays. This period introduced us to many top models and celebrities, such as you and Gianni, as well as things that made me dream. These early experiences greatly influenced me.
D.V.:The early '90s were a particularly amazing time for fashion because it was the height of glamor and there were no restrictions on what you could do. But I see that you have not stopped expanding your boundaries, you are always moving forward. This feeling is felt in your collections, which I admire.
R.T.: Thank you!
D.V.:Is your original passion for those things still the same, or has it subsided?
R.T.: I have to be honest: the only thing I believe in is my family. For me, family is not just DNA. I mean people close to me. My mother and my sisters are my energy and inspiration that fuels me throughout my life. Fashion is my job. I love it. This is my passion. But still the most important thing for me this is life. I have always been surrounded by women and I am very attracted to the world of women because I love both strength and romanticism at the same time. You can see all this in my style.
D.V.:It's clear from the things you create that you know a woman's body. You know how to revalorize it.
R.T.: Imagine all my sisters. Each of them had its own form and lifestyle. So my path to becoming a designer was quite specific. Even when I came to Givenchy, there were people who supported me, but not everyone loved me. They said: “Why does an Italian create things in the Gothic style?”, without taking into account the fact that Italy is the cradle of the Gothic style. But they argued: “No, Italians should only do sexy things!” My base is Italian roots. And this is a strong passion for fashion and a passion for sensuality. When I went to London to study at Saint Martins, I acquired a sense of transgression and the gothic. And when I went to Paris, I mixed these two directions in myself.
D.V.:In your latest collection, you could see an enhanced sexuality.
R.T.: I hate vulgarity. I hate vulgarity even though it attracts me. I love anything that is disruptive or vulgar. But, in my opinion, you need a limit, which is always a little unreal. The Versace fashion house creates very sexy things, but never crosses the line between sexuality and vulgarity. Many other brands that have tried to outdo Versace have crossed this line. I think that you and I, Donatella, are similar in this. We have this sense of proportion. It makes me proud to be Italian. I'm proud of what I do.
D.V.:When I worked with Gianni, I was the person he could trust and say anything to. If I didn’t like something, then I honestly said about it: “No, no, no! Do something different." Is there such a person on your team?
R.T.: Certainly. This is very important. Even though I have a small team. It is very important for a male designer that he listens to some kind of female opinion. And as I told you, my luck depends on the women who surround me. On at the moment There are women in my life whom I adore and appreciate, for example, Maria Carla Boscono and Marina Abramovic. Many people think that Carine Roitfeld was my stylist for many years. And this is not true. She was simply Maria Carla Boscono to me. Yes, there are some people whose opinions I want to hear first. But this is still my path. Maybe I'm losing it a little as I get older. It's hard to convey. At the end of the day, there are two or three people on my team that I always listen to.
D.V.: Knowing your character, it’s hard to believe that you’re giving up!
R.T.: Yes, that's because I'm from the South of Italy. And I'm proud of it. I develop all projects together with my team. She's small, but she's fantastic. I listen to someone's opinions because they are important to me. My zodiac sign is Leo and it is important for me to stand on my own two feet. But I also have another, softer side. On this side, I am a little boy who has not yet grown up and for whom it is important to listen to others.
D.V.:I would like to say that the sheer shirts you created this year are simply amazing.
R.T.: Donatella, you are definitely a Givenchy woman! I say this because I want the world to know this. You are the personification of a truly Italian woman. There is pure American rock chic, British chic, but Italy has always been the personification of all this. You and I have tried more than once to make a joint project. I'd love to see you in Givenchy.
D.V.: I would be very happy about this. I have already chosen several Givenchy items for myself.
R.T.: Which? Tell me!
D.V.:I liked the jacket with patent piping. He has wonderful proportions. Narrow to the knees, without tights - very sexy.
R.T.: Naturally! After you create the same things for a long time, you have a desire to come up with something new. And this season was just like that. I don't like shock as such, I like shock chic.
D.V.:Americans really love you, but I find that you are not the kind of designer who has an American sensibility. You have more of a European, Italian sensibility.
R.T.: I am absolutely Italian! And this is a very precise concept. But I am also attracted to the United States of America. Why? U small child from a poor family in southern Italy, I had a dream to visit the Big Apple. I don't really like classical music, I like the music that Americans listen to. I like the American ghetto. I love the Bronx. I love hip-hop and R&B, I love electro-Latin, Latin music and everything like that.
D.V.:I like to work with the music playing at full volume.
R.T.: Yes. And I love finding something new. For example, right now I'm listening to Nicki Minaj and Antony and the Johnsons. I also love changing musical directions. I like the conceptual aspect of Anthony Hegarty (lead singer of Antony and the Johnsons) and something in the style of Lil' Kim, Missy Elliott and Ciara. I love what evokes emotions in me. After all, I'm Italian. my close friend is Marina Abramovic, so I like strong, very aggressive political art. She looks like a mom who wants to adopt me. People say, "You're dark, you make dark clothes, you probably like The Cure or Diamanda Galas." Yes, I love Diamanda Galas, but I also love Madonna, Beyoncé and Courtney Love. They are all from different worlds. They are all different, but they evoke emotions in me. I am the one who needs emotions, the one who wants to convey them. Otherwise I would have changed my profession.
D.V.:Clothes evoke emotions just like music.
R.T.: Absolutely right. Every now and then she makes my heart beat like I just met my first love.
D.V.:Your latest couture collection evoked strong emotions in me. It turned out beautiful, modern and very stylish. It is clear that she was made great.
R.T.: When I started, everyone said that the era of Haute Couture was coming to an end, and that scared me. I will say more, I was terrorized by this idea. I come from a provincial area of Italy. When I was invited to work at Givenchy, the only thing I thought was: “Wow!” I signed the contract. But I will be honest and say that I only went through all this because of my mother, to buy her a house. Back then I didn't even think about what I was doing. It could not have been Givenchy, but any other company... I didn’t care, I just didn’t want my mother to live in a nursing home. I have nothing against nursing homes, but my mother, who went through so many trials, who raised nine children... I could not allow this. So, I started working at Givenchy. And I want to say that the era of Haute Couture is not over at all, it is just undergoing changes.
D.V.: I agree with you.
R.T.: Couture was the first stage of my career. Couture has changed because before, for example, there were princesses, they still exist now, but they no longer ride horse-drawn carriages, but go to parties, go to resorts, and sail on yachts. They all want to be in constant motion. I realized this, and immediately began creating things specifically for such girls. In addition to couture, we also create men's and ready-to-wear collections. When you do all this, you want to somehow differentiate the directions.
D.V.: It's better to do not many things, but make them amazing. Your samurai pieces (from the Spring-Summer 2011 Haute Couture collection) seemed brilliant to me. Hardness and softness come together without weighing each other down. This is excellent.
R.T.: You can say that in this spring couture collection I showed the romantic side of my nature, because everyone thinks that I am dark, like a Rottweiler. I show this romantic side to few people. I can only open up to people like you Donatella, because we have known each other for 5 or 6 years. I still remember our first meeting with you. You were then at a dinner with Miuccia Prada at the Vogue Italia editorial office. We stood upstairs and smoked. You introduced yourself and I thought you were a very strong woman. That's how we started becoming friends.
D.V.: I am very happy to see such a talented Italian designer in Paris. And your last show (Autumn-Winter 2011) reminded me of Gianni.
R.T.: You're not the only one who tells me this. You know, most kids were obsessed with robots or Barbie dolls. But my obsession was the Versace fashion house. I saved money just to buy a Versus T-shirt. I was obsessed with this. Today I am still the same fan of Versace and Versus. In fact, the Versace shows were the only shows I attended. I only work in fashion because of the few designers I admire. And that doesn't mean I don't like everyone else or think they're bad designers. I'm just very selective. I love Versace and I love Helmut Lang, even though the brand no longer exists.
D.V.: You also dress celebrities. At the Oscars, I saw Cate Blanchett in a Givenchy Haute Couture dress. She was the most graceful.
R.T.: Thanks a lot. I'll tell you that when I started working at Givenchy, there was some kind of confusion there. Before me, the post of creative director was held by such geniuses as John Galliano and Alexander McQueen. They contributed to the history of the brand. But when I took over from Julian MacDonald, I could no longer define Givenchy's true style. Everyone associates this brand only with Audrey Hepburn, but there is a whole world on the other side of this perception. I closed all the doors and didn’t want to let anyone inside. This was the only way I could find myself. That's why at the very beginning I didn't want to dress celebrities. I started doing this later: I dressed one, two... We dress some stars because they are part of the family. These are the women I admire. And I don't care how famous they are.
D.V.: Now I have to ask this: do you have any new ideas for Givenchy or for your brand? I hope you understand what I mean.
R.T.: I understand what you mean. This question is related to the Dior fashion house. I am truly sorry for what happened to John. And I want to stay out of all this gossip about me and the Dior fashion house. I will say one thing: I am happy to work at Givenchy. I feel at home here. Givenchy is like my son. It's hard to explain, but it would be very difficult for me to leave.
D.V.: Givenchy is truly your baby.
R.T.: Absolutely. I started working with the almost destroyed House, starting from scratch. I did everything very slowly. And we really achieved a lot. I'm happy here. At the moment it is Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci. And I hope this will continue for a long time.
D.V.:We'll see if this is true!
R.T.: At the moment, this is the honest truth. But my truth is this: you never know what will happen tomorrow.
Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy
French fashion designer, founder of the Givenchy fashion house; great-grandson of the French painter Pierre-Adolphe Badin. His understanding of fashion was embodied by two famous clients - Audrey Hepburn and Jacqueline Kennedy.
Date and place of death - March 10, 2018 (age 91), at his Jonchet estate near Paris.
Givenchy was born on February 21, 1927 in the French city of Beauvais. The father of the future fashion designer was a pilot from that generation of romantics - the first conquerors of the skies, to which Saint-Exupery belonged. Givenchy came from a very wealthy family, which had many traditions and one of them was a passion for beautiful clothes.
Lucien Taffin de Givenchy died when his son Hubert was two years old.
After the death of his father, Hubert was raised by his mother and grandmother Marguerite Baden. The grandmother was the widow of an artist who was the owner and director of historical manufactories and tapestry factories in Beauvais.
The boy took after his father. He did not become a pilot solely out of compassion for his mother, for whom the death of her beloved husband turned out to be the tragedy of her life. But Hubert's dreams of beautiful, transcendental distances were reflected in his work.
He discovered a passion for fashion very early. At the age of 10, he visited the world exhibition in Paris and returned full of amazement from the Pavilion of Elegance, where 30 models of the most famous French fashion houses were presented. It was then that he decided to become a fashion designer.
When Hubert was ten years old, he and his mother went to the fair. From the pavilion with exhibited fashionable dresses he didn't want to go out.
At the age of 17, the boy ran away to Paris. Here he began studying at the School of Fine Arts. His first works were made for Jacques Fatou in 1945. In this year, he became an apprentice to the most famous fashion designer of those times, Belenciaga, a fashion designer of fashion designers as he was called.
After the liberation of France from fascist occupation, he moved to Paris, where he worked as an assistant and studied with such fashion giants as Jacques Fath, Robert Piqué and Lucien Lelong.
From 1947 to 1951, Hubert de Givenchy worked as an assistant to the extravagant Elsa Schiaparelli. She liked his work, and soon the young Givenchy was already running one of Elsa’s boutiques.
But this was not enough for Hubert. He decided to open his own fashion house. To do this, he borrowed money from his relatives, who eventually believed in the future of the young talent. On February 2, 1952, Hubert de Givenchy's dream came true - he opened his own fashion house. He was only 25 years old. Thus, he turned out to be the youngest of the creators of high fashion.
Despite the success of the first collection, things were mediocre. In 1953, the first collection was published. The fashion house had already moved to George V Street, where it is now located. Due to the fact that the designer did not have enough funds, he created a collection of cotton. Only fifteen people came to the show.
Model Bettina Graziani, wearing an unusual white blouse with wide sleeves, which were decorated with black and white flounces, immediately became famous. Every woman wanted to have the “Bettina” blouse in her wardrobe. All the debutant sought was a subtle combination of charm and lightness. The designer presented his next show in 1954.
1953 was a turning point in his career. First, he meets the Spaniard Cristobal Balenciaga, with whom he later developed a close friendship and working relationship. He chose him as his teacher.
The designer presented his next show in 1954.
Hubert de Givenchy supported Balenciaga when he decided to exclude the press from his shows in 1957. To prevent journalists from influencing the opinions of buyers, they were allowed to see the new collection for the first time only eight weeks later. Naturally, the press declared a boycott. But since Balenciaga was considered a leading couturier after Dior's early death, his opinion could not be ignored.
Zhivanshi and Audrey Hepburn
Then a historical event happened - Audrey Hepburn, then unknown to anyone, came into his workshop...
On the morning of 1953, the 26-year-old couturier was told by his secretary that Miss Hepburn was waiting for him. He expected to be visited by the Oscar-winning Katharine Hepburn, so he was very surprised when he saw a thin and rather ridiculously dressed young embarrassed girl. The girl introduced herself and said that she had been offered a role in the film “Sabrina”, and she wanted to dress with true Parisian chic. Without paying much attention to the young client, the designer invited her to choose a dress from his collection herself.
She had impeccable taste, and the dress in the film was a success, but Givenchy's name was not even mentioned in the credits. After the film was released, Audrey flew in with an apology. The designer consoled her by saying that after “Sabrina” he received a flood of clients.
Givenchy remained Hepburn's personal designer and friend until her death, simultaneously creating fashion, dictating new trends to the market, opening new paths, dressing other famous clients, the most famous of whom was Jacqueline Kennedy. For 42 years, almost the entire time that he was the head of the fashion house he founded, he was inspired by one muse, who was neither his wife nor his girlfriend, but precisely the Lady of the Heart in the medieval sense. For many years Audrey Hepburn was the “face” of the House of Givenchy. Couturier always called her the embodiment of his ideas about what the woman for whom he creates models should be.
On February 4, 1955, the fashion designer was awarded his first Oscar for the costumes for the film Sabrina. And Audrey from then on became his close friend and henceforth dressed only with him - both in life and in the movies. The designer created his first perfume for her. They were released in 1957.
Perfumes “Ban” from GIVANTCHY
L'Interdit
In 1957, Audrey asked to develop a new perfume for her personally. Hubert invited the famous perfumer Francis Sabron. He created an exquisite aroma that combined citrus, floral, fruit and berry notes. For three years only Hepburn used them.
Only then did they go on sale. The designer's work in the perfume field just began with these perfumes. New fragrances will appear later: Le De, Monsieur de Givenchy, Amarige, Xeryus, Ysatis, Organza.
The success of this fragrance became the basis for the organization of not only a modeling business, but also the Parfums Givenchy company.
At the beginning of the 60s, Givenchy left the perfume arena for ten years to release Givenchy III in 1970, after a long break. This name is not accidental - after all, this is the third feminine scent Fashion house. The bottle design was developed by the famous Pierre Dinand. This is a bright fragrance for a woman who has good taste and impeccable elegance.
Givenchy was the first to create “fashion for the streets” and the so-called “ready-to-wear dress” - pret-a-porte, which went straight to stores. As a result, the end of the 50s and all of the 60s became the “era of Givenchy.”
Hubert de Givenchy's works combine elegance and classicism with boldness and modernism. In 1973 Givenchy enters the world men's clothing. And in 1974, the third men's fragrance, Givenchy Gentleman, appeared - in honor of the men's clothing collection of the same name. It was created by perfumer Paul Léger. This is a thoroughbred perfume for a noble man, endowed with the chic and charm of a real dandy.
All his life Givenchy remained an aristocrat: no one knows anything about his novels and personal life, but his work always became famous and even famous. In 1995, the great couturier, who at that time had already sold his fashion house, left his job.
He stops working in fashion, creating sketches for brands, and takes up landscape design, and his brainchild begins to suffer from fever. First, John Galliano will work as creative director for a year, then McQueen, Julian Macdonald.
Gevenchy
French fashion house, which was created in 1952 by Hubert de Givenchy. Specializes in the production of clothing, shoes, accessories and perfumes.
In 1953, Hubert de Givenchy began collaborating with film actress Audrey Hepburn, who was then just beginning her career in Hollywood. Together they created a style that combined sophisticated elegance with natural beauty.
In 1987, the Givenchy fashion house was bought by the French concern LVMH, which also owns such Parisian fashion houses as Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, Christian Lacroix and C?line.
In 1995, Hubert de Givenchy was forced to leave his fashion house. By the decision of LVMH owner Bernard Arnault, John Galliano was invited to take his place, who immediately attracted attention with his elaborate and at the same time provocative collections, demonstrated with an unexpected theatrical effect for that time. In the wake of such success, Arnault entrusted Galliano with the artistic direction of another, even more important fashion house for him - Christian Dior, where he remained for almost 15 years, until the beginning of 2011.
Aspiring fashion designer Alexander McQueen was invited to create collections under the Givenchy brand - he headed the atelier from October 1996 to early 2001. His first collection was considered a failure, and several subsequent ones were also subject to serious criticism.
His most famous work of that period was the 1998 show of the spring-summer 1999 collection, during which fashion model Shalom Harlow, standing on a rotating floor disk, demonstrated a white multi-layered dress, which was then “painted” in front of the public by two robotic spray guns. in black and yellow colors.
McQueen's last show for the house of Givenchy was also provocative: the audience was forced to look at their own reflection in the mirrored wall, when an hour later the lights went out in the hall, the wall turned out to be a huge “aquarium” illuminated from the inside, which was filled with fashion models looking at the audience through the glass; in the center, on a sofa made of horns, lay the completely naked writer Michelle Olley, her face covered with a mask depicting an alien reminiscent of Master Yoda from Star Wars.
In 2005, the artistic direction of the women's clothing line was transferred to another young clothing designer - Italian Riccardo Tisci.
In May 2008, he also became responsible for the release of men's collections.
In 2009, Riccardo Tisci began developing the fashion house's first inexpensive line, Givenchy Redux.
In 2011, under the leadership of Riccardo Tisci, the new Givenchy fragrance “Dahlia Noir” was presented.
Hubert de Givenchy - the life story of the legendary fashion designer updated: March 12, 2018 by: website
