Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Paris Fashion Week Coverage

Givenchy Spring 2012 Couture

On the Givenchy Couture runway, designer Riccardo Tisci took the “less is more” approach by honing this finely crafted collection down to 10 looks. Like a master chef reduces a sauce to make it more potent and flavorful, so Tisci maximized the intensity of these 10 looks. These are denser renderings of Tisci coda than we’ve ever seen before, which goes to prove that Tisci is as capable of creating avant-garde, gothic couture as he is at making fetching ready-to-wear pieces.

There is a nod, it seems, to the work of previous Givenchy designers Alexander McQueen and Julien Macdonald in this collection. McQueen may have contributed to the darker mood, while the heaviness of Macdonald’s Fall 2004 RTW may have made an appearance in the clothes a time or two. Tisci experiments with his signature elongated silhouette by smothering basic gowns in layers of crocodile skin leather, drape front lapels, off-shoulder cuts, and dark, shimmering jewels. There are cultish undertones that spoke to Tisci’s devotion to renewing the old. With cited influences the likes of Fritz Lang’s groundbreaking 1927 film “Metropolis”, the flirtation with synthetic, industrialized extremes begins to make sense. There was a repressive atmosphere to the rigidity of this display, but it was undercut by the blazing white of some of the dresses that one imagines will look even more beautiful in motion.

written by GRACE GORDON|photos: courtesy of GIVENCHY

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