133 posts tagged "Givenchy"
Exclusive: At Givenchy, Flower Power, Military Might, And Even A Cameo From Bambi
Givenchy’s Mert & Marcus-lensed Fall campaign broke today, starring two generations of Roitfelds, Amanda Seyfried, and models Dalianah Arekion and Quim Gutiérrez, but time and tide wait for no label. Hot on the heels of the campaign, Riccardo Tisci unveils its Pre-Spring men’s collection exclusively on Style.com. Anyone who’s had an eye on the Fall womenswear will recognize it as a cousin. Florals, flames, and camouflage motifs abound, and those who eyed the bricolage Bambi tees that look likely to be the latest runaway hit will be glad to find them here in men’s versions, too. Even Luigi Murenu’s painted hairdos from the women’s show get translated for the guys. (The sharp tailoring and sporty Bermuda short/leggings combination is classic Givenchy men’s.)
The collection, Tisci says, takes inspiration from Latin culture, and has the potentially sensitive name of Favelas 74. (1974 is Tisci’s birth year.) “Men in favelas are more natural and more confident about their sexuality,” he explains. “They are not scared to mix and match clothing. They represent sensuality, street, and elegance—what I recognize as elegance. I love the fact that they play with opposite things like flowers (which represent peace and serenity) and camouflage (which represents the army), but all interpreted in a very colorful and positive way.”
Here, the exclusive debut of Givenchy’s Pre-Spring 2014 menswear.
Style At Your Fingertips
Aside from maybe a tiara, nothing heightens the glamour of a full-on evening look quite like a pair of gloves. Eye-catching gauntlets turned up on the Lanvin, Gucci, and Oscar de la Renta Fall runways. And at last week’s high-wattage Met Gala, divas from Madonna to Beyoncé to Paloma Faith covered up their digits with statement-making pairs of varying lengths. Kim Kardashian’s custom Givenchy number was the talk of the town, but what really piqued our interest was the gown’s built-in gloves, which prompted speculation that Kim was concealing an engagement ring (you know Kanye would go all out with a rock for his baby mama).
We predict we’ll be seeing more gloves at Cannes. Here, a show of hands.
Three’s a Trend: Rococo Riot
Eschewing pins, plaids, and pugnaciousness, a few of last night’s Met Gala attendees opted for a different sort of ornamentation: all things baroque. Curious, you might think, since gilt and whorls don’t exactly fit with punk’s middle-fingers-up grittiness. But with parallel underlying airs of metallurgy and commoditized Gothicism, we’d say these ladies picked up on a bloodline between the zeitgeists.
Beyoncé’s hellfire custom-made Givenchy gown evoked monarchal muscle and flamboyant architectural tones. Katy Perry arrived in head-to-toe Dolce & Gabbana—florid gold-leafed crown included. Dolce & Gabbana also dressed Giovanna Battaglia and Tabitha Simmons. The former wore the label’s Alta Moda couture line, and both looks recalled a seaside Palermo church awash in halcyon daylight. Hilary Rhoda also walked the line between rococo and rebellion; her Wes Gordon top featured fine-lined Aurelian patterning on diaphanous black sheer—but her cropped leather pants were 100 percent King’s Road.
Inside Punk: Chaos to Couture
By now, you’ve no doubt already heard about—or even seen—the facsimile of CBGB’s bathroom that Andrew Bolton included in the opening gallery of the Met’s Punk: Chaos to Couture exhibition, which opens to the public on Thursday, following tonight’s red-carpet festivities. “CBGB was the heart of punk in New York,” said Bolton at a preview this morning. “Punk was all about shock and provocation, and so to start off an exhibition in the Metropolitan Museum of Art with a toilet—well, I thought was the ultimate punk statement,” the curator told Style.com.
The exhibition juxtaposes original (and contemporary) punk wares by Vivienne Westwood against luxury and haute couture looks from the likes of Dolce & Gabbana (who are featured in the Graffiti room, above), Maison Martin Margiela, Comme des Garçons, Dior Haute Couture by John Galliano, and Gianni Versace (yes, the 1994 safety-pin dress is on display). One might be hard-pressed to differentiate between Vivienne Westwood’s destroyed seventies sweaters and Rodarte’s Fall 2008 knit dress, which are on display side by side. The same gallery boasts Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s lewd T-shirts (for instance, her famed “Tits” top hangs against a black PVC curtain). “I love that we start off with T-shirts with very obscene political and sexual slogans,” said Bolton. “They’re still shocking thirty-seven years later—in a way, more shocking, because of our political correctness.” Beyond the T-shirts lies a reproduction of McLaren and Westwood’s infamous—and iconic—shop, Seditionaries, which stood at 430 King’s Road. The remainder of the show was divided into DIY categories, like Hardware, Graffiti and Agitprop, Bricolage, and Destroy—and each room was punctuated by a film by Nick Knight. “No other subcultural movement has a greater or more enduring influence on how we dress today,” Bolton noted in his opening remarks. Consider, as evidence, the fact that there is a slew of Fall 2013 looks in the show, from such houses as Viktor & Rolf, Saint Laurent, and Gareth Pugh—whose Fall 2013 trash-bag dresses are arranged into a veritable mob in the center of the Bricolage installation.
Bolton made sure to steer away from clichés—for instance, he noted that hairstylist Guido Paulo, who created the spiky Technicolor mops that topped each mannequin’s head, avoided Mohawks, and instead pulled inspiration from Richard Hell’s signature ’do.
“I wanted to present punk in a respectful, and even reverential, manner,” said Bolton. That’s already earning the show some mixed reviews. And of course, there are those who protest discussing punk in a high-fashion context—or, for that matter, paying couture prices for a punk-tinged look. “I think that’s completely punk,” said Bolton in response. “People seem to forget that punk really was a commercial movement. Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, in a way, created what we know as the punk look. And they commodified it,” he explained.
As for why consumers and designers, from Karl Lagerfeld to Met Ball host Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy, are still drawn to the seventies subculture, Bolton offers, “Punk endures today because it reflects our longing for a time when originality and creativity were celebrated, a time when fashion was provocative and confrontational. And, above all, a time when fashion championed the individual and self-expression.”
Punk: Chaos to Couture opens at the Metropolitan Museum of Art this Thursday, May 9.
Intarsia-gram!
Who can resist a novelty sweater? Over the past few seasons, pullovers emblazoned with Givenchy’s snarling rottweilers and Kenzo’s tigers have become status symbols for the street-style set. Designers’ message for Fall: There is plenty more where those came from. Jeremy Scott and Raf Simons sent tongue-in-cheek intarsia knits down their runways, and Christopher Kane’s turtleneck depicting a healthy human brain electrified with ideas is destined to become a collector’s item. Others took a more classic approach. Sweaters inlaid with feminine floral motifs turned up at Billy Reid, Sister by Sibling, and Antonio Marras, while Victoria Beckham, Derek Lam, and Louise Goldin (left) stuck with graphic, geometric patterns.
Here, the best of Fall’s intarsia knits.