Givenchy Fall 2024 Ready-to-Wear: Couture Club
Givenchy was in a transitional season, though you wouldn’t know it from the throngs of people who gathered outside the French fashion house’s historic salons on Avenue George V ahead of its fall ready-to-wear show.
In the absence of a creative director following the departure of Matthew M. Williams, there was no starry front row this season, though the brand keeps racking up red carpet credits, having dressed Kate Winslet, Carey Mulligan and Naomi Watts for recent events.
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It made sense, then, that its fall collection skewed dressy, with an array of cocktail and evening outfits that harked back to the collections of founder Hubert de Givenchy. The creative brief appeared to be: What would Audrey Hepburn wear today?
Swing coats, draped pencil skirts and LBDs channeled the golden age of haute couture, but the hemlines were strictly 21st century: cocktail dresses with graphic necklines ended well above the knee. You could picture them on latter-day ingenues like “Emily in Paris” star Lily Collins.
There was an ‘80s undercurrent to the chubby furs and suit jackets with ramrod-straight shoulders. Tailoring was strong, especially the long coats in herringbone wool or navy jacquard in an archival cat hair motif, and the slouchy pants worn with peplum vests.
Givenchy has a world-class couture atelier, and it pulled out the stops with looks like a maroon crystallized bustier dress with a scoop back; a short coat sprouting thousands of neatly trimmed feathers, and a draped black column dress that was a marvel of deceptive simplicity.
For all the mastery on display, the collection lacked a key ingredient: heat. The house recently released a captivating catalogue of its runway shows titled “Givenchy: The Complete Collections.” If it proved anything, it’s that a studio team can keep a brand on the boil, but it takes a strong creative lead to make it sizzle.
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Launch Gallery: Givenchy Fall 2024 Ready-to-Wear Collection
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