Givenchy is focus off ilm at festival
Hubert de Givenchy was and remains as elegant as the designs he created, notably for Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina and Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but also for Grace Kelly, Jackie Kennedy and Greta Garbo. The couturier from the golden age of couture (at right, in 1958) is the subject of Monsieur Hubert de Givenchy, a film by Karim Zeriahen screening at the International Festival of Films on Art. He opened his house of couture in 1952 with the idea of dressing women in separates, quite a revolutionary notion at the time. In 1988, he sold to LVMH, the luxury conglomerate that owns Dior, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Donna Karan and many others. The film runs through extensive archival footage and current interviews with the designer, now living very privately in a grand “hôtel particulier” in Paris. He speaks of his admiration for Cristobal Balenciaga – the beauty of a dress by the Spanish master moved him to tears – the chic, foxy models who had to “walk with magnificence,” and the state of fashion today. “I loved my job and was lucky to do it in the time of real couture,’’ he says. “We would dress women to make them beautiful. Now they are sold shoes and bags.”
Monsieur Hubert de Givenchy screens as part of a double bill with Paul Smith, Gentleman Designer, Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Details: www.artfifa.