IN MEMORY OF HUBERT DE GIVENCHY (1927-2018)

Paris, Avenue Montaigne, June 1961. A man steps out of a convertible in an impeccably cut suit. The hand slides over the window of the door ready to be slammed shut, l ike a k iss or a slap. The right shoe of his leg is thrown forward as though for a sprint and is blurred, too fast-moving to be captured by the lens, but the man is dandy enough to keep his jacket buttoned. Who is it? Hubert de Givenchy, but also L’Homme pressé

( The Man in a Hurry) in Paul Morand’s novel. The one who said, “I am not a man, I am a moment.” A moment is what Givenchy was. A moment of liberation of forms, of l iberation of women, a perfectly French moment: carefully designed carefreeness, passion of the revolution. That of ‘Monsieur’ was one of l ines. Only one, if possible, in conformity with the principle of his mentor, Balenciaga. The l iberation of outlines and habits with his ‘Separates’ invented for Schiaparelli: l ight skirts and blouses with puffed sleeves to be combined in whatever way a woman wanted, and ce que femme veut, Dieu le

veut… And Audrey Hepburn wanted it. Hepburn? Hubert was expecting Katharine, so Audrey had to insist. And she did well to do so: strapless red dress, satin masterpieces with fluid architecture, silk sleeves for this arrow of mutinous flesh... “Dressed by him, I’m afraid of nothing,” said Funny Face, who was never as piquant as when she was wearing Givenchy. Is it she, in this picture by Tony Vaccaro, that the designer has just noticed in this Paris street, in THE Paris street? Or is it Jackie Kennedy, another Givenchy girl? In 1961, at Versailles, Jackie was wearing Givenchy. Ivory-coloured fabric and embroidered flowers. “In this dress, Madame, you look l ike a Watteau,” De Gaulle allegedly told her. Watteau, another ‘silhouetter’ of the moment: The Pilgrimage to Cythera, The Pleasures of the Ball, Perfect Harmony. Another era, but the same France: piquant, and in a hurry to l ive.

Christophe Ono-dit-Biot is the author of six novels including Plonger, winner of the French Academy’s Grand Prix and the prix Renaudot des lycéens. His last novel, Croire au merveilleux, will be published in Italy in June under the title

Credere al meraviglioso (Bompiani).