Sarah Burton says goodbye to the ghost of Audrey Hepburn at Givenchy.
At least a quarter of an hour before the Givenchy show was to begin, the white-walled salons of the brand’s headquarters on Avenue George V began to fill up with guests. To understand why that is significant, consider the fact that in the skewed reality of fashion, a show is considered to have started on time if it begins half an hour late. But such was the anticipation for the designer Sarah Burton’s first show. The stakes for both her and Givenchy were high.
Ms. Burton, the former designer of Alexander McQueen who was key to saving that brand after the death of its founder, but who left it in 2023, had been away from fashion for almost a year and a half. In her 25-year-career, she had only ever worked at one house: McQueen, where her job, even when she was in charge, was largely defined by someone else’s vision of fashion.
Givenchy itself had not a designer for more than a year, not since it parted ways with its most recent creative director, Matthew M. Williams, and it had not really had a clear identity — a reason for anyone to go in and browse — for even longer. It was, essentially, existing on the fumes of its former muse, Audrey Hepburn.
Could Ms. Burton reinvent the house, as well as reinvent herself on her own terms, in a way that would make people want to shop again?
Yes.
In a bracing collection that offered clarity of both line and personality, Ms. Burton excised the ghost of Audrey (it was a lovely ghost, but it had been hanging around too long) and replaced her with a different kind of woman. One who seemed both straightforward and a little subversive. Who could hold her own in a swirl of chaos and be the calm in the center of the storm — even if sometimes she created the storm. And one who understood she was enough, all on her own.
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