Hubert de Givenchy may have been the most quintessentially French couturier, but his lifelong muse was from the other side of the Channel: film star Audrey Hepburn.
With two British designers currently helming its design studios, as the house seeks a new creative director following the departure of Matthew M. Williams, it should come as no surprise that the Anglo influence bubbled just under the surface of its resort collection.
Susanna Venegas and Josh Bullen, head of women’s and men’s, respectively, drew key references from the Givenchy archive, but their inspiration came from English style icons.
The women’s looks channeled late model Stella Tennant’s insouciant elegance, with a more relaxed take on the couture-inspired looks that came down the runway for fall 2024.
Crisp tailoring was set off with pops of cheetah-print shearling, while eveningwear was unfussy, with the notable exception of a white pompom cage dress set on a crystal grid that harked back to the Swinging ’60s.
“She’s provocative, but always chic,” Venegas said. “It’s about having an unwavering confidence.”
Enough confidence to step out of the house wearing a pastel yellow cable knit sweater with nothing but black patent leather kitten heels, which came with a cute paw detail on the strap — one of several references to Givenchy’s fondness for cats that were sprinkled throughout the collection.
Bullen unleashed a litter of kittens on a tongue-in-cheek sweater dotted with tiny blue satin ribbons, and reworked a ’70s-era print into a “cat camo” on a field jacket. “There was a lot of humor in the work of Hubert,” he noted.
Vintage trompe-l’oeil hair print scarves were worn loose with an aviator jacket or a shearling vest, and worked into a pussy-bow blouse and a novelty sweatshirt.
Bullen said the men’s attitude was part gentleman, part punk. Former Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon inspired the colorful tuxedo jackets dressed down with ribbed tank tops, while U.S. artist Julian Schnabel, who is fond of wearing pajamas in public, informed a robe-collared jacket and a slinky navy monogram matching set.
A mint green cardigan featured a 3D woven jacquard and intarsia motif inspired by the argyle pattern that the label’s founder once used on a china tea set. It doesn’t get more British than that.