Twice a year, the fashion world converges on the city of light, love and fashion, with utter delight to witness the pinnacle of fashion at it’s finest, the Haute Couture shows. As a designer myself, the couture shows represent fashion in its purest modern form – it is a platform for designers to push boundaries and budgets (if they even exist for couture) to the next level. Of the elite group privy to belong to the couture club (you have to be admitted by the Federation Francaise de La Couture), there is one house that has been steadily regaining its couture voice in the last few years . . . Givenchy.
Going from a relatively unknown in 2005 to one of the designers who has you hankering for more, Riccardo Tisci, in his 6 couture season at the helm of Givenchy, has created a world of wearable fantasy to delight his audience.
Inspired by his imminent trip to Peru this August, Tisci show a neutral color palette, including tobacco browns to deep olive greens, accented with a rich purple that lets you know why it is the color of royalty – a formula that is signature Tisci (neutrals with accents).
Another nod to his Peruvian theme was evident in the alpaca blanket stripes (not the high point of the show) and Inca inspired embroidered knits.
Where Tisci really excelled were his signature looks of adding hard-core elements to feminine silhouettes, like the purple body hugging dress with corset lacing detail. Other notable looks include dark khaki pants paired with luxe sculptured bombers, fitted leather/alpaca vests worn over leggings, and leather biker jackets layered over Chantilly lace gowns, and who could forget the floor sweeping, asymmetric draped jersey dresses.
Although, like the Andes in Peru, there were highs (the beige fringe dress) and lows (the angora blanket stripes) of this collection, overall Tisci created a collection that was urban, chic and modern all at the same time. He has a knack for making opposing forces work exceptionally well together: masculine with feminine, tight with volume, hard with soft, etc. These are his signatures and that is why he will continue to be a designer to watch for years to come.
All images courtesy of the Fashion Spot forums.
