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Givenchy

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NEW YORK, January 10, 2011
By Nicole Phelps
For Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy, pre-fall used to be a group of basics, but not anymore. "People want another show," he said early Monday morning, and that's just what he gave passersby the day before, shooting his lookbook images on three of his current catwalk favorites—Lea T, Saskia de Brauw, and Izabel Goulart—on a snowy West Village street. The location was designed to highlight what Tisci described as the urbanity of a collection inspired, somewhat paradoxically, by English fishermen and hunters circa the 1970's. A nude lace top, for instance, came with removable rugged nylon sleeves and was paired with a pleated skirt in a compactly woven camel cashmere, while a brown chiffon evening gown was accessorized with over-the-knee lace-up leather waders.

Given his influences, it wasn't surprising that Tisci showed a lot of strong outwear, including a parka patchworked from nylon, fur, and faux leather (celebrities, apparently, sometimes prefer fake to real); a shrunken jacket made with cavalry twill and shearling; and his signature trompe l'oeil toppers that look like a blazer worn over a longer coat. The color palette, too, was a departure for the designer. "I didn't touch black on purpose," Tisci explained. "Brown is the new black." There was also plenty of lilac and, picking up where Spring's oversize leopard spot left off, a densely patterned computerized armadillo print.

One of the collection's most striking looks was an antiqued lace, to-the-floor dress topped with a bed jacket made from tulle and taffeta rosettes and trimmed with zips. The model wore a necklace with the new Givenchy emblem; called the Obsedia, it marries religious and military symbolism with a 1920's Deco feeling, and Tisci is using it on everything from jewelry to belts to bags. "All the old French houses have an emblem," he reasoned. Tisci's been at the French brand five years now, and he's certainly put his stamp on the house that Hubert built, luring big-time celebrities and igniting major trends, not least of which is the sheer we've seen everywhere the last couple of seasons. Introducing the Obsedia, it would seem, makes it official.

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