Givenchy Women

One of the most successful French brands that successfully penetrated the global market is Givenchy, another trendsetter in luxury items such as designer clothing, cosmetics and perfumes. However, like some of the celebrated fashion designers in the industry, Givenchy practically started from scratch. Orphaned at a tender age, Huber James Taffin de Givenchy was raised by his grandfather in Beauvais, France. His very fist exposure to craftsmanship was under the tutelage of his grandfather who was an artist and a known expert in tapestry making in their locality. Early on, he seemed to have a penchant for the arts, and soon launched his career in 1950 when he decided to join Elsa Schiaparelli as a designer in a small fashion house. He featured vibrant colored separates that enchanted the shop’ s clientele and immediately boosted its sales.

Two years later, he opened his owned fashion house in Rue Alfred de Vigny, which is quite near the Parc Monceau. Here, he presented his very first Givenchy women’s collection. However, since he barely had money at that time to purchase extravagant fabrics in large amounts at that time, the Givenchy women collection was actually made from the white cotton materials usually used in men’s clothing. He solely relied on his designs, which he named Bettina named after Paris’ top model at that time Bettina Graziani. The Bettina blouse met raving success and was soon copied by many other aspiring designers, which earned him instant global recognition.

Dubbed as the perfect gentlemen of haute couture, Hubert Givenchy went on to conquer the rest of the fashion scene by mainly concentrating on the elite clientele offering fashionable dresses for the young debutantes and even to dowager. All were available in the distinct Givenchy fashion exuding elegance and purity that are sculpturally refreshing that many women have been drawn to. Having carved an elite niche of his own, some of the Givenchy women’s collection adorned prominent women in society such as the likes of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Gloria Guinness, the Duchess of Windsor, Mercedes Kellog, Bunny Mellon and the actress Capucine who was formerly a model for Givenchy, too.

Givenchy has always claimed to have such regard for the legendary Spanish fashion designer Balenciaga. In fact, he even conceded that Balenciaga was his idol since he was able to work with Balenciaga, who taught him how to avoid the unnecessary details and minimize as well as involve colors and shapes in his designs. This influence was quite apparent in Givenchy clothing line particularly in the straight dresses and sheaths that were designed to barely touch the woman’s figure. Hence, Givenchy was considered to be one of the pioneers of the sack dresses that have been quite popular in the early 60’s.

One of the highlights of Givenchy designs aside from the stark simplicity of his day and evening dresses, his clothes were characteristically feature din bright and cheerful colors. He mainly used glazed linens and silk broadcloth, gabardine and cloque textured silks. Through the years, the Givenchy style never changed, and the designer is always seen wearing the white coat that was given to him by his mentor Balenciaga. The designer brand has nurtured a loyal following through the years, up until his retirement at the age of 68. Today, the Givenchy designer brand is owned by Arnault, who also owned Dior, Celine, Lacroix and Kenzo.

The very essence of Givenchy fashion still lives on, still offering with fabulous dresses in vibrant colors worn by celebrities and elite personalities in society. Currently, the top designer for the brand is the newcomer Riccardo Tischi, who said to have diligently studied the archives of Hubert Givenchy’s designs in an effort to preserve and maintain the designer’s ideal of what Givenchy fashion should be.