Did Givenchy just take two bites of the couture cherry, or was it more like three? Riccardo Tisci showed his made-to-measure collection on the runway with his menswear collection in Paris, then shot the pictures you see here on Natalia Vodianova, Kendall Jenner, et al., after the show. And then, in an arrangement to capture the womenswear professionals and the clients, he suspended the same frocks on dress forms at Givenchy headquarters and asked people over to view them, by appointment, during couture week.
The rules and schedules that used to apply to fashion are starting to shift in all sorts of unpredictable ways. Tisci’s main point was to demonstrate at close quarters how the clothes are made, and to provide couture customers with a commentary on possible purchases.
The close-up view provided the revelation of the varieties of intricate pleating that went into creating the columns. Some are decorated with micro sequins, plastic paillettes, or tiny grommets. A couple incorporate large, flat bows at the waist, which were influenced, said Tisci, by the Hubert de Givenchy archive. There were two tailored outerwear pieces, decorated with mirrored embroidery, and that was the sum of the range on show—though Tisci noted that the templates are merely there as a starting point to be altered by clients when ordering.
Givenchy wasn’t the only house to show clothes on dummies to press during couture week; Giles and Miu Miu also did, distributing lookbooks afterward. Perhaps this is the way things will be going, considering how expensive it is to fund runway presentations today. On the other hand, Givenchy doesn’t quite fit the catwalk-abandoning pattern, as it did show haute couture on supermodels, but to the crowd that attends the menswear shows instead of the haute customers who come to Paris during couture week.
