The perfume of Arabia that was sprinkled through the Givenchy menswear show last month had a second life in the designer Riccardo Tisci’s haute couture. The feminine mystique of the veil, delicate as a filmy cover over a sleek white dress, contrasted with full-blown Moroccan ethnicity — all heavy metal and covered bodies.
The result was piquant, and not entirely convincing as a couture show. Yet Mr. Tisci is bringing an aerobic mind-stretch to couture and to how he perceives Givenchy. His cuts, drapes and juxtapositions of the familiar man/woman styles look fresh.
The show opened with a curvy, corseted velvet coat, finely tailored, and a clear statement about Western dress — though the look immediately dissolved when a velvet jacket was teamed with a Turkish delight of gilded harem pants. Added to the hard/soft, East/West contrasts were veiled hoods and gilded knuckle dusters.
There was surely a narrative in the designer’s mind to explain the vivid pink or green crystals decorating long flesh-colored dresses and a shaded hemline that looked fierce and fiery. Mr. Tisci’s vision is both romantic and has a hard-edged modernity — and that makes him an interesting free spirit in haute couture.