Hubert de Givenchy has always been a creator of Haute Couture, a real tailor. He approached a milieu that now doesn’t exist anymore. His public was selected, his atelier made tailored hand-made items for a very high profile clientele. As all of the couturier of the époque, he had an elegant, simple and refined style, but although his social status, he was also really bourgeois. He interpreted his period in a different way than his collegues. His look was linear, really high-quality, but understated, not loud at all, tied to his personality.
With the passing of time, Givenchy’s Haute Couture has lost its intensity and has become a mass phenomenon. Its subsequent decline, especially in the 80’s, is derived from economical and social factors, like the fact that its original clientele exstinguished.

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John Galliano and Alexander McQueen were real geniuses, but they were not controllable by the company LVMH, which acquired the brand in 1987. McQueen had a talent of an extraordinary creativity, he had his own rapport with design and his fashion shows were theatrical. He resembled the brand identity just for his exclusivity, but unfortunately he had nothing to do with Givenchy. He didn’t consider the heritage of the brand, and its continuity. He also had several frictions with the management of the label. His creativity, mixed with his desire to lead the brand in a certain direction, didn’t fit in with the administration of Givenchy. LVMH wanted the brand to become more commercial, McQueen wanted just a stronger and more creativity impact. The coexistence between the management and the designer just didn’t work. The following years have been really critical. Julien Macdonald didn’t bring anything innovative at the brand, and the house was about to shut down.

In 2005 the company completely changed direction hiring Riccardo Tisci. It was a sign of LVMH desire of positiong the brand on a market segment closer to the Ready To Wear. They didn’t want to create only exclusive Haute Couture, but also have a much wider catch on the market. They wanted a 360 degrees development. They made an aware decision of becoming more present with a new image and new must-have accessories line, always maintaining Haute Couture as the cherry on top. What they did was trying to enhance the brand with a new commercial vigour.

Tisci already had a restricted public with a good stylistic appeal on the press, who saw him as a rising star ready to grow. His propension for a street, edgy and dark look was ages away from the classic Givenchy aesthetics, but it was elegant and gracious. Now his style is a lot more groundbreaking, but still romantic. The company has been able to work with Tisci giving him the freedom of interpreting the brand in a contemporary way, seeing that his ideas could be conveyed successfully for the market. The brand's management has worked with him to lead Givenchy back to success.