Clare Waight Keller’s inception as Givenchy’s artistic director in 2017 came with great responsibility. The Peter Parker cliché lends itself here, as the brand’s then-CEO Philippe Fortunato, who’s now spearheading Richemont’s fashion portfolio, boldly stated that the grand plan was to supercharge Givenchy to Dior proportions. The latter’s revenue in 2018 was over 2 billion euros. The former then, north of 400 million euros.
After three years, Waight Keller — who’d finessed floaty, bohemian femininity at Chloé to cult status and launched many It bags of the 2010s — and the house parted ways. Unsurprisingly, because despite the designer’s beautiful, modern couture and directional ready-to-wear collections, what did the brand as a whole really say to consumers between 2017 to 2020? Beyond nice products and that Ariana Grande campaign, it did little to invigorate memory structures around what Givenchy stood for — especially after her predecessor Riccardo Tisci’s unforgettable 13-year tenure, during which he positioned the brand as a legacy house that dabbled in streetwear, imbuing it with a dark and Gothic edge. According to analysts, Fortunato’s ambition is yet to be made a reality, even though the brand had grown both its physical and digital sales touchpoints over Waight Keller’s tenure. Today, Givenchy needs to be rejuvenated: In both what it stands for when viewed through a modern lens, and how it’s made itself distinct from its peers. And they’ve picked none other than Matthew M. Williams to accomplish the task.
WHY FASHION HAS A NEW BREED OF CREATIVE DIRECTORS
This story is from the April 2021 edition of ELLE Singapore.
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This story is from the April 2021 edition of ELLE Singapore.
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