Givenchy

Givenchy

Hubert de Givenchy opened his own Paris couture house in 1952 at just 24, after training under Jacques Fath, Robert Piguet, Lucien Lelong and Elsa Schiaparelli. His debut collection of interchangeable separates in raw cotton shirting, anchored by the white Bettina blouse, made practicality itself the news, and the house's identity was cemented a year later when he met Audrey Hepburn and began dressing her both on screen and off.

Dresses

Dresses are where Givenchy's whole founding argument still plays out: that couture-level construction could also be practical, mix-and-match, wearable in a way 1952 Paris was not really doing yet. The house that dressed Audrey Hepburn on and off screen for decades built its name on exactly this category, and it still carries real weight here.

Shoes

Footwear extends the house's discipline about proportion and finish into a category Hubert de Givenchy himself was not primarily known for, which makes it a more recent expression of the codes than an original signature. It still reads as recognizably Givenchy in its restraint rather than in any obvious logo.

More from the collection

Beyond dresses and shoes, the wider assortment reflects a house that has passed through several very different creative hands, from John Galliano and Alexander McQueen to Riccardo Tisci's decade-plus run and now Sarah Burton, who took over womenswear and menswear in September 2024. Each era read differently, which is worth keeping in mind while browsing a single edit.

More from the collection

This stretch of the range shows how far the house has moved from a single 1952 atelier into a full LVMH-owned lifestyle brand, acquired by the group in 1988, seven years before Hubert de Givenchy's own retirement in 1995. The founder's preference for clean tailoring over ornament still surfaces in pieces here, even under later designers.

More from the collection

Further into the edit, accessories and separates show the commercial engine that grew out of the original couture business, including the fragrance line launched in 1957 around Audrey Hepburn as its face, reportedly the first time a brand built a fragrance campaign around one star. That instinct for pairing image with product has outlasted every creative director since.

More from the collection

A last look through the assortment is a reminder that Givenchy's founding idea, useful separates over rigid formality, has been reinterpreted by designer after designer without the house ever fully abandoning it. Sarah Burton's tenure is the newest version of that argument, and it is still being written.

Our honest take

Givenchy's genuine claim to history is specific: a 24-year-old designer who made practicality glamorous, then spent decades dressing one of the most photographed women alive without ever needing a loud logo to do it. Our honest take is that the house is most interesting when a new creative director treats that restraint as a starting point rather than something to overwrite, and it is too early to say definitively which camp Sarah Burton falls into.