A different cloth

As the fashion industry rolls out a procession of promising appointments, Sarah Burton, no stranger to making history, sets herself apart as Givenchy’s new lead. GABY WOOD visits the atelier.

- GABY WOOD

Just come forward to the mirror for me a second?” Sarah Burton is standing in a grand studio at Givenchy in Paris, about to embark on a day of fittings for her first spring collection as creative director. A fit model, Hana Grizelj, moves toward her in a calico dress with white organza draping. Notations are written in blue pencil across each bra cup: gauche/droite. Nearby, pale boned dresses and black structured jackets hang on a rail as if worn by ghosts. Burton is wearing what she calls her uniform: jeans, white Converse sneakers, and a collarless white cotton shirt—one of many run up for her by Judy Halil, a pattern-cutter who has worked with her for 23 years.

While other designers might do a few sketches and, eventually, have a look at the final results, Burton has become known for building the clothes herself, working with a live model. She moves at speed into multiple dimensions, variously cutting, pinning and deciding on fabric, or the shape of the season's shoulder. (“You can look at it on a stand,” she tells me, “but it’s so different on a body.”) At Givenchy, Burton’s colleagues tell visitors, only half-jokingly: “Don't put your coat on the rail—it might get cut up.”

She stands next to Grizelj, looks in the mirror, and squints.

In one swift movement, she shears a mane of organza from Grizelj's spine before kneeling on the floor, pincushion around her wrist, and attacking the hem with scissors.

Burton’s tone is calm, her care reminiscent of a surgeon's. There are several people involved in this process, including Matteo Russo, the head of womenswear; Tatiana Ondet, head of atelier from Paris; and James Nolan, who drapes initial designs with Burton in London—a combination of new Givenchy colleagues and loyal ones from Alexander McQueen, where Burton worked from 1996 to 2023. They participate as nurses attend an operation—you half expect Burton to call out for a scalpel, or a clamp.