Givenchy Bids Adieu to Couture shows

Published by Tangent Magazine | Words: Leni Andronicos

After 58 years on the couture runway, Givenchy has announced the end of an era. The label will no longer be showing its couture line on Parisian runways - instead presenting the collection by appointment only to exclusive clients and high-profile editors.

The fashion house Givenchy has employed some of the greatest names in design throughout its history including John Galliano, Alexander McQueen and the recently appointed Ricardo Tisci.

Tisci has spent the past five years as creative director for the Givenchy Femme haute couture and ready-to-wear collections. He has announced plans to condense this season’s couture collection into ten looks, which will then be presented in an 18^th century town house on the Place Vendome in Paris.

Amidst rumours of financial troubles or the dramatic decline of couture customers, Tisci stresses that the decision to discontinue Givenchy’s couture shows has not been influenced by such dilemma but purely a change in direction and an opportunity to reinvent the exclusivity of couture.

"I want to make couture even more special than it is, and not just another catwalk show," Tisci told WWD. "People can really experience the couture moment - see it, touch it."

The instillation is said to cost 35 percent more than a catwalk show and will be supported by a look book shot by Vogue photographer Willy Vanderperre and special model appearances from Lara Stone and Mariacarla Boscono.

In another big change for Givenchy, Tisci won't be using any black. In his Spring 2010 couture show, the designer took inspiration from the seventies and incorporated masculine-feminine tuxedo tailcoats, cocktail dresses, jumpsuits, and a section of long evening looks in a plethora of black interrupted by shades of midnight blue, violent purple and emerald. "It's the first time I'm not doing any black," Tisci told WWD. "It's a challenge for me to do no black, and I like a challenge."

"After a crisis, a new era always starts," the designer added. "It's going to be a very good moment for creativity. For couture, it's going to go back to being very exclusive."

Givenchy’s latest couture collection will be debuted on July 6^th in Paris and will possibly mark the beginning of a new era for couture.

Words: Leni Andronicos