Daily Front Row

2008 January 23

Givenchy - Paris Couture Spring 2008

Givenchy Couture Spring 2008
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(PARIS) Riccardo Tisci is rapidly maturing as his tenure at Givenchy continues. Nowhere more evident than in his couture show Tuesday night, he seems to have finally found a lucid way to translate his confidence into a viable collection.

With his fellow couturier Valentino retiring this week, and others like Christian Lacroix, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel many years his senior, the fashion world is looking at Tisci to bring youth, strength, and a savoir-faire that has been somewhat dim of late. And that’s precisely what he did.

Tisci divided his collection with various points of reference in his show notes, including such singular words as Swan, Penelope, and Pure, as well as alluding to a modern ballerina in various stages: Rehearsal, Ethereal, and Gothic, the last represented when house muse Mariacarla Boscono strutted out in a black silk radzmir jacket worn with an asymmetric trapeze-cut skirt, offset with a mille-feuille of white silk organza.

This was a digestible show that was easier to take in, as compared to Tisci’s past attempts at securing an identity, and gave Givenchy a linear leg on which to stand.

In staying attuned to his clean lines and invigorating silhouettes, Tisci updated his dancer’s continuity, mixing a jacket, pair of pants, and cocktail dress all done in glass beads with more romantic sheer tulle gowns. As is slowly becoming a signature at Givenchy, impeccably tailored equestrian-esque coats had a military vibe to them. One dark coat, “drill-set with plaques of gold,” as Tisci called it, was a knockout.

He also incorporated elements of his last couture show, in particular the use of feathers--in one case, emu with a chalk-white gossamer silk bustier dress, in another, a skirt embroidered with ostrich, biot, goose, and coq, and finally, a draped jersey dress cast in a cloud of green, yellow, and beige ostrich feathers.

Overall, Tisci proved that he is capable of digging himself out of the conceptual graveyard that has haunted him in the past, and move forward. Let’s hope his distinctive eye doesn’t look back.