Today it was announced that Count Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy, French aristocrat and founder of the house of Givenchy, passed away on Saturday at the age of 91 at his Renaissance chateau near Paris.
One of the last gentlemanly designers, the tall aristocratic was the epitome of French elegance and refinement. Born in 1927 in Beauvais, France, from a Protestant noble family that came from Venice (the original surname was Taffini), after his father died he was raised by his mother and maternal grandmother, Marguerite Dieterle Badin, the widow of Jules Badin, an artist who was the owner and director of the historic Manufacture des Gobelins and Beauvais tapestry factories.
Inheriting his passion for fashion from them, he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1944 and broadened his skills with Jacques Fath, Robert Piguet, Lucien Lelong and Elsa Schiaparelli.
In 1952 he founded his own fashion house in Paris - Maison Givenchy - and started producing revolutionationary collections. Cristóbal Balenciaga became for him an inspiration (Givenchy loved his modern sobriety and unique style), a great friend and master (in later years Givenchy supported the creation of the Museo Cristóbal Balenciaga; Givenchy was also the president of its Foundation).
His first collection, revolving around separates, that is interchangeable elements that allowed clients to mix and match different items, included the Bettina Blouse, named after Bettina Graziani, Paris's leading model at the time. Simone Micheline Bodin, known professionally as Bettina or Bettina Graziani, worked as a model for Fath and Lucien Lelong among the others and became a muse to Hubert de Givenchy after Fath's premature death in 1954. Bettina actually worked for Givenchy not just as a model but as a press agent as well and she also inspired the bottle for Givenchy parfum "Amarige".
Made from the material of a classic man's white shirt, the Bettina blouse was characterised by an open neck and sleeves embellished with broderie anglaise. These blouses marked the designer's first major success in his career and his first step towards international fame.
Givenchy's clients included many famous actresses and socialites, among them Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Maria Callas, Capucine, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Grace Kelly, Rachel Lambert Mellon, Jeanne Moreau and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, just to mention a few ones.
One actress became also a muse and a dear friend to Givenchy, Audrey Hepburn: the designer met her in 1953 during the shoot of "Sabrina".
Givenchy went on to design the black dress Hepburn wore in "Breakfast at Tiffany's", and creating entire wardrobes for other films such as "Funny Face", "Charade" and "Paris - When it Sizzles".
Hepburn - who also lent her image for Maison Givenchy's first perfume L'interdit (lanched in 1957 and shot by Richard Avedon) - declared at the time about the designer "Givenchy's clothes are the only ones I feel myself in. He is more than a designer, he is a creator of personality."
In many ways she was right: Coco Chanel designed the first little black dress (LBD), but Givenchy made it popular when he came up with the iconic black gown for Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in 1961 film "Breakfast at Tiffany's". Characterised by a fitted bodice and cut-out décolleté on the back, accessorised with long gloves, dark sunglasses and four strands of pearls, the black satin sheath evening dress became an indelible cinematic fashion moment.
In 1954, Givenchy's prêt-à-porter collection debuted, followed in 1969 by a men's line. While in the '70s Givenchy created furnishing fabrics and designed interiors for hotels, between 1976 and 1983, the Ford Motor Company offered a Givenchy Edition of its Continental Mark series of luxury automobiles.
The designer received many awards and honours throughout his career, such as the Elegance Oscar (1985), the rank of Knight of the Order of the French Legion of Honour (1983), the Golden Thimble (1978 and 1982), and the Tiberio d'Oro (1969), among others.
In 1988 Givenchy sold his firm to the Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy group (LVMH), taking full retirement seven years later, and dedicating his life to collecting 17th and 18th-century bronze and marble sculptures, and working as an antiques expert for Christie's, the Château de Versailles and the Louvre museum.
After he retired his house was led by a string of creative directors - John Galliano and Alexander McQueen, Julien Macdonald and Riccardo Tisci. In 2017 Clare Waight Keller became the brand's first fermale director at Givenchy.
In 2014 the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza dedicated to Givenchy the first major retrospective on the work of the French fashion designer: the event was a feast of shantung, crepe, organza and silk laden with pearls, feathers and rock crystals, a celebration of the female body courtesy of a designer who loved to combine tradition and innovation.
Givenchy is survived by his partner, Philippe Venet, his nieces and nephews, and their children. His funeral will be private and the family asked to make donations to Unicef in his name in lieu of flowers.
Are you a Hubert de Givenchy / Audrey Hepburn fan? Stay tuned for tomorrow's fashionably cinematic post.
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