Hubert de Givenchy

Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy (Template:IPA; 20 February 1927 – 10 March 2018) was a French fashion designer who founded the luxury fashion and perfume house of Givenchy in 1952. He is famous for having designed much of the personal and professional wardrobe of Audrey Hepburn and clothing for Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. He was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1970.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Early life

Hubert James Taffin de Givenchy was born on 20 February 1927 in Beauvais, Oise,<ref name="fashiondesigner">Template:Fashiondesigner</ref><ref name="theindependent2010">Hubert de Givenchy: 'It was always my dream to be a dress designer', The Independent, 7 June 2010</ref><ref name="vogueconnieroff">Connie Roff, Who's Who: Hubert de Givenchy, Vogue, 11 November 2011</ref> into a Protestant noble family.<ref name="LM">Template:Cite web</ref> He was the younger son of Lucien Taffin de Givenchy, Marquis of Givenchy (1888–1930), and his wife, the former Béatrice ("Sissi") Badin (1888–1976). The Taffin family was ennobled in 1713, at which time the head of the family became Marquis of Givenchy.<ref>Jougla VI, 256, numéro 32324.</ref> His elder brother, Jean-Claude de Givenchy (1925–2009), inherited the family's courtesy title of marquis and eventually became the president of Parfums Givenchy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A third sibling, Beatrice, was born in 1928 but died shortly after birth.Template:Efn

After his father's death from influenza in 1930, he was raised by his mother and maternal grandmother,<ref name="vogueconnieroff"/> Marguerite Badin (1853–1940, née Dieterle), the widow of Jules Badin (1843–1919), an artist who was the owner and director of the historic Gobelins Manufactory and Beauvais tapestry factories. Artistic professions ran in the extended Badin family. Givenchy's maternal great-grandfather, Jules Dieterle, was a set designer who also created designs for the Beauvais factory, including a set of 13 designs for the Elysée Palace. One of his great-great-grandfathers designed sets for the Paris Opera.<ref>(fr)Encyclopedie.picardie.fr, Givenchy, Hubert de</ref>

He moved to Paris at the age of 17, and he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts.<ref name="theindependent2010"/><ref name="vogueconnieroff"/> He stood 6'6" tall.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

Givenchy's first designs were done for Jacques Fath in 1945.<ref name="theindependent2010"/><ref name="latimesrose">Rose-Mary Turk, Givenchy : For 36 years, He Has Reigned as a Prince of Fashion; an Unusual Retrospective in L.A. Will Show Why, The Los Angeles Times, 28 October 1988</ref> Later he did designs for Robert Piguet and Lucien Lelong (1946) – working alongside the still-unknown Pierre Balmain and Christian Dior.<ref name="theindependent2010"/><ref name="latimesrose"/> From 1947 to 1951 he worked for the avantgarde designer Elsa Schiaparelli.<ref name="theindependent2010"/><ref name="latimesrose"/>

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Hat for Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's designed by Givenchy

In 1952, he opened his own design house at the Plaine Monceau in Paris,<ref name="theindependent2010"/><ref name="vogueconnieroff"/> concentrating on versatile separates in shirting cotton.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Later, he named his first collection "Bettina Graziani" for Paris's top model at the time, who had provided indispensable support and publicity for him.<ref name="theindependent2010"/><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> His style was marked by innovation, contrary to the more conservative designs by Dior. At 25, he was the youngest designer of the progressive Paris fashion scene. His first collections were characterized by the use of rather cheap fabrics for financial reasons, but they always piqued curiosity through their design.<ref>"Working on a tight budget, Givenchy served up the floor-length skirts and country chic blouses in raw white cotton materials normally reserved for fittings." "French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy has died at the age of 91", News Corp Australia Network, 13 March 2018.</ref>

Audrey Hepburn, later the most prominent proponent of Givenchy's fashion, and Givenchy first met in 1953 during the shoot of Sabrina.<ref name="guardianashifakassam">Ashifa Kassam, Hubert de Givenchy needled by collapse of haute couture, The Guardian, 22 October 2014.</ref><ref name="wsjmarymlane">Mary M. Lane, Hubert de Givenchy Remembers Audrey Hepburn, The Wall Street Journal, 4 September 2012.</ref> He went on to design the black dress she wore in Breakfast at Tiffany's.<ref name="guardianashifakassam"/><ref name="wsjmarymlane"/> He also developed his first perfume collection for her (L'Interdit and Le de Givenchy).<ref name="theindependent2010" /><ref name="vogueconnieroff" /> Hepburn was the face of that fragrance. This was the first time a star was the face of a fragrance's advertising campaign.<ref>History of the House of Givenchy, givenchy.com. Accessed 8 December 2023.</ref>

At that time, he met his idol, Cristóbal Balenciaga.<ref name="vogueconnieroff" /><ref name="voguelaurenmilligan">Lauren Milligan, "Hubert De Givenchy on Fashion Today", Vogue.co.uk, 20 October 2014.</ref> Givenchy sought inspiration not only from the lofty settings of haute couture but also in such avant-garde environments as Limbo, the store in Manhattan's East Village.<ref>Vogue, 15 February 1966.</ref>

Givenchy's notable clients also included Donna Marella Agnelli, Lauren Bacall,<ref name="fashiondesigner" /> Ingrid Bergman, Countess Mona von Bismarck, Countess Cristiana Brandolini d'Adda, Sunny von Bülow, Renata Tebaldi, Maria Callas, Capucine, Marlene Dietrich,<ref name="fashiondesigner" /> Daisy Fellowes, Greta Garbo, Gloria Guinness, Dolores Guinness, Aimee de Heeren,<ref name="guardianashifakassam" /> Jane Holzer, Grace Kelly,<ref name="guardianashifakassam" /> Princess Salimah Aga Khan, Rachel Lambert Mellon, Sophia Loren, Jeanne Moreau, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis,<ref name="guardianashifakassam" /> Empress Farah Pahlavi, Babe Paley, Lee Radziwill, Hope Portocarrero, Comtesse Jacqueline de Ribes, Nona Hendryx, Baroness Pauline de Rothschild, Frederica von Stade, Baroness Gaby Van Zuylen van Nijevelt, Diana Vreeland, Betsey Whitney, Baroness Sylvia de Waldner, the Duchess of Windsor, Haitian first lady Michèle Duvalier and Jayne Wrightsman.

File:Hubert de Givenchy met mannequins op de Internationale Bloemententoonstelling Flora 1953 in Heemstede 01.jpg

Hubert de Givenchy and models at International Flowershow Flora 1953 in the Netherlands

During the 1950s and early 1960s, he was considered one of the top couturiers.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> He debuted his prêt-à-porter collection in 1954,<ref name="vogueconnieroff"/><ref name="voguelaurenmilligan"/> at which time his designs were considered to be both comfortably wearable, largely via a loosened fit,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and well-shaped enough to have "hanger appeal".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1955, he gained acclaim with an easy-fitting sweater style,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> a sleek, open-sided pump,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and diminutive millinery.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> His most prophetic 1955 contribution was the shift dress,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> which he would alter in 1957 to produce the fuller but tapering "sack/sac dress,"<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> also called the chemise dress, soon copied by Christian Dior for his 1957 Fuseau/Spindle line.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The same year, he felt confident enough with his stature to present his collections weeks after almost all other designers showed theirs, requiring a second trip to Paris for the press.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He created the iconic 'balloon coat' and the 'baby doll' dress in 1958,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>[http://www.givenchy.com/en/baby-doll-dress-0 The 'baby doll' dress Template:Webarchive</ref> making innovative contributions to the geometric seaming and experimental construction becoming prevalent at the time.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> His princess line of 1959 was also very influential.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In 1969,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a men's line was created.<ref name="vogueconnieroff"/>

While his premiere collection in the early 1950s had consisted of separates, they had still conformed to the rather dressy norms of the day. In the second half of the 1960s and into the 1970s, with the rise of much more casual styles<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> like miniskirts<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and jeans,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> a societal rejection of materialism,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and the decline in importance of haute couture,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Givenchy's designs remained rather formal and dressy<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and he became much less influential, seen by some as a behind-the-times designer for wealthy women "of a certain age."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> There were signs of this change in position as early as 1963, when he rejected the fashion world's adoption of multiple heights of women's boots,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> sticking instead to staid pumps, and attempted to reintroduce a fitted princess silhouette when waistless shift and trapeze shapes were the strongest trend.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> During the miniskirt era, his hems remained longer than most,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> only rising to micromini length in the early seventies, when short lengths had come to seem the conservative position.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> He also joined 1971's brief vogue for hot pants<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and showed fabrics inspired by Mark Rothko.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

With the return to dresses that accompanied 1974's Big Look trend,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> he began to be taken a little more seriously again,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and with the return to formality and conspicuous-consumption,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> hats-gloves-suits-and-big-shoulders glamour reintroduced for fall of 1978<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and continuing into the 1980s, Givenchy entered the upper echelons of fashion's status quo once again,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> joining designers like Valentino, Yves Saint Laurent,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and Oscar de la Renta<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> in showing shoulder-padded versions<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> of the chemise dress,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> sharply tailored suits,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> grand entrance ballgowns,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and cocktail dresses<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> revived from the 1940s and 1950s.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> While no longer the innovator he was in the 1950s,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> his work was very popular and perfectly in line with the mood of the era's wealthy.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> He even joined other cocktail-set designers in showing the occasional above-the-knee skirt,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> newly acceptable to him now that it was dressy-looking instead of 1960s-casual,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> a tendency that increased during the eighties.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

From 1976 through 1987 in the US, the Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company offered a Givenchy Edition of its Continental Mark series (1976<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> to 1982<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>) and Lincoln Continental (1982<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> to 1987) automobiles, beginning with the 1976 Continental Mark IV coupe, continuing with the 1977<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>-79<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Mark V coupe, and ending with the 1982 Lincoln Mark VI and the 1987 Lincoln Continental sedan.

The House of Givenchy was split in 1981; the perfume line went to Veuve Clicquot, and the fashion branch was acquired by LVMH in 1989.<ref>Pat McColl, Fashion 89: Givenchy and Valentino Add Final Touch, The Los Angeles Times, 27 January 1989.</ref> As of today, LVMH owns Parfums Givenchy as well.<ref name="theindependent2010"/>

In 1988, he organized a retrospective of his work at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.<ref name="latimesrose"/>

Later life

File:Tombe Givenchy.jpg

Grave in Passy Cemetery

Givenchy retired from fashion design in 1995.<ref name="guardianashifakassam"/>

Givenchy resided at the Château du Jonchet, a listed historic castle in Romilly-sur-Aigre, Eure-et-Loir, near Paris.<ref name="vogueconnieroff" /> In his retirement, he focused on collecting 17th and 18th-century bronze and marble sculptures.<ref name="wsjmarymlane" /> In July 2010, he spoke at the Oxford Union.<ref name="theindependent2010" /><ref name="vogueconnieroff" /> From 8 to 14 September 2014, during the Biennale des Antiquaires, he organized a private sale exhibition at Christie's in Paris featuring, artwork by Jean-Baptiste-Claude Odiot, the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, Jacques-Louis David, and Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson, etc.<ref>Christie's: Empire, mise en scène par Monsieur Hubert de Givenchy</ref>

In January 2007, the French Post Office issued postage stamps for Valentine's Day designed by Givenchy. In October 2014, a retrospective exhibition featuring ninety-five of his designed pieces took place at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, Spain.<ref name="guardianashifakassam" /><ref>Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum: Hubert de Givenchy</ref>

His longtime partner was fashion designer Philippe Venet.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Hubert de Givenchy died in his sleep at the Renaissance chateau near Paris on Saturday 10 March 2018.<ref name="death">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Fashionista website. Retrieved 14 March 2018.</ref> He was 91<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and was buried in Passy Cemetery in Paris.

Bibliography

• Françoise Mohrt, The Givenchy Style (1998), Assouline. Template:ISBN
• Pamela Clarke Keogh, Hubert de Givenchy (introduction): Audrey style (1999), Aurum Press. Template:ISBN
• Jean-Noël Liaut: Hubert de Givenchy : Entre vies et légendes (2000), Editions Grasset & Fasquelle. Template:ISBN

External links

• Template:Cite web
• Hubert de Givenchy: 18 facts about the iconic designer