FASHION DESIGNER WHO ACTUALLY ADORED WOMEN
As Givenchy dies, aged 91, how his instinct for what women really want helped him invent the Little Black Dress – and make Audrey Hepburn a star
Chances are, if you were put on the spot and asked to choose the most iconic dress of the 20th century, you would say it had to be the Little Black Dress worn by audrey hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
even today, this sleeveless gown by hubert de Givenchy looks as radically chic as it did 57 years ago.
Givenchy’s strength was his simplicity. Where other designers aimed for shock value, Givenchy honoured understated elegance and refined femininity.
But he was more than just the LBD. Take any other of his designs today, and they still look strikingly fresh. his Fifties pleated balldress wouldn’t look out of place on today’s red carpet, and you can imagine the little daisy-print frock that he designed for hepburn flying off the rails at M&s.
he created the idea of separates, too. It meant stylish women could mix and match tops and jackets with skirts and trousers, creating their own style, rather than following a head-to-toe look dictated by the designer.
The ‘sack’ silhouette of 1957 was his design genius. controversially, it did away with a restrictive, fitted waistline and featured a shorter hemline — a precursor to the sixties mini dress.
after years of austerity during the war years, Givenchy helped women fall in love with fashion again, creating exciting new styles for a generation of women who yearned to look feminine again but also had new, more liberated lives.
as clare Waight Keller, who became Givenchy’s first female artistic director when she was appointed in March 2017, said after meeting hubert Givenchy for the first time last year: ‘You could tell he absolutely adored women.’
It was the secret to his success. his chic, understated frocks were synonymous with a golden age of fashion — adored not just by whippet-thin movie stars but ordinary women everywhere on account of their no-fuss glamour.
Little wonder, then, that celebrities, fashion aficionados and stylish women everywhere are in mourning for the aristocratic French designer who died on saturday at the age of 91.
Perhaps the greatest tribute to him is that the fashion house he founded in 1952 is as relevant now as it ever was. Movie stars who have worn Givenchy to awards ceremonies in the past year include Wonder Woman Gal Gadot, emma stone, Margot robbie and nicole Kidman.
It was 1961 when audrey hepburn appeared as the ambitious holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s wearing Givenchy’s sleeveless black shift, accessorised with elbow-length gloves, a string of pearls and an impish smile.
The iconic outfit spawned a million copycat creations.
Givenchy said their close relationship was tantamount to ‘a kind of marriage’ and hepburn described the designer as ‘my beautiful hubert’. she became his muse and his creations featured in seven of her films, from the white embroidered frock she wore in 1954’s sabrina to the scarlet strapless gown in 1957’s Funny Face.
But Givenchy’s celebrity seal of approval didn’t end there. he dressed the world’s most glamorous aristocrats, actresses and politicians’ wives.
Grace Kelly wore a Givenchy green dress and jacket on a state visit to Washington in 1961. First Lady Jackie Kennedy was shipped a Givenchy black skirt suit overnight after she requested it for JFK’s funeral in 1963, and the designer reportedly created a custom-made black dress and coat in the space of two frantic days and nights for the Duchess of Windsor to wear to her husband’s funeral.
so how did this 6ft 6in colossus — who died in his sleep at the renaissance chateau near paris that he shared with his partner, the couture designer philippe Venet — come to dominate the cut-throat world of fashion?
Known for his impeccable manners as much as his a-List connections, Givenchy’s entire life was governed by an impeccable sense of style. his home was adorned with Louis XIV antiques, he wore natty neck-ties and polished brogues, and even boasted a separate summer wardrobe for his furniture.
perhaps such opulence was inevitable given his background. Born count hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy in Beauvais, in the north of France, his father Lucien was the Marquis of Givenchy. hubert was just three when his father died, leaving his mother and grandmother to raise him and his elder brother.
The women introduced Givenchy to the world of high fashion and sent him to paris to study art at 17, after which he began his career working for French designer Jacques Fath and a then unknown pierre Balmain and christian Dior. at just 25 he had garnered a reputation as a daring young designer.
It was in 1953 that he met the relatively unknown hepburn, famously agreeing to the introduction because he thought she was the considerably more successful actress Katharine hepburn. The gamine actress had requested a meeting to discuss the possibility of wearing his dresses in sabrina.
his costume designs for that film won an Oscar and afterwards hepburn repeatedly requested his dresses.
Givenchy sold his business in 1988 but continued as its creative head of design until 1995, when British designer John Galliano took over.
Givenchy himself summed up his incredible career: ‘To have lived your dream is very rare in life. I have been so fortunate.’