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If French pronunciations—like Givenchy—trip you up, you'll enjoy the easy to enunciate name of the historic house's new creative director: Riccardo Tisci (that's TEE-she).
The fourth Givenchy designer in ten years, Tisci—like predecessors John Galliano and Alexander McQueen—is a Central Saint Martins success story. (Julien Macdonald went to the Royal College of Art.)
Tisci, now 30, attended art school in Como, Italy, and was designing textiles for Missoni at 17. After graduating from CSM, he launched his own line with British boutique Kokon To Zaï and later turned down offers from Dolce & Gabbana and Roberto Cavalli, choosing instead to design for Puma.
Along with Antonio Marras at Kenzo, Stefano Pilati at YSL Rive Gauche, and Giambattista Valli at his self-titled Paris-based line, Tisci joins a growing number of Italian designers in the City of Light.
How did he end up at Givenchy? Via disappointment. In 2004, a few months into a job at Ruffo Research, the line was shut down. "I packed my bags and left for India," Tisci says, "determined to make clothes." He showed the fruits of that journey at his first solo show, in Milan for spring 2005.
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Mariacarla Boscono, the dark-haired favorite of Karl Lagerfeld and Carine Roitfeld—and Tisci's muse—was largely responsible for launching him, casting his shows, and spreading the word. "I was so passionate about what he was doing, I couldn't keep my mouth shut!" she says.
Tisci's solo shows were distinguished by simple palettes, unique details like burnt Swarovski crystals, and elaborate draping that emphasizes movement. "Riccardo's work," Boscono says, "stands alone."
Tisci, who has committed to designing exclusively for Givenchy (read: no eponymous line), has been immersed since March in the house's archives, especially the fifties and sixties sections. "I want to bring out the essential codes of Monsieur de Givenchy," he says. "Elegance, romance, modernity."
—Laird Borrelli
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