Matthew M. Williams - Designer

[dodencebt]

Critics haven’t totally dismissed Mr. Williams’s work for Givenchy. Opinions may be mixed, but they rarely present as purely negative.

This whole article was pure gold.

 

[perhydrol]

Why was this article allowed to be published? Of course it's obvious that Matthew's Givenchy has been a massive flop since day one, but instead of giving sad interviews, he should focus on his work and doing it right. It will not help to actually sell any of his stuff because the customers don't care. It's actually doing damage to the image of the house and Carine is not the answer. Not to mention that I'm amazed he still hasn't been fired, because the underperformance is real.

However, I must say he succeeded in one thing, in beating Julien Macdonald as the worst appointment at Givenchy.

 

[Salvatore]

Well at least he is very well aware that it does not look good for him as far as Givenchy is concerned. This interview does not make me want to look at his collections or shows with a more attentive eye. He’s just not capable to design at this haute couture house. It’s not in him and that’s okay. Move on.

 

[YohjiAddict]

The public in general, including the critics would have respected him more if he had stood his ground in terms of vision but so far he’s gone from one thing to the next without rhyme or reason, we sense nothing but hesitation in his work for this house and it’s exhausting. Tisci’s Burberry was a similarly frustrating affair, even with better collections.

 

[Lola701]

If the clothes ain’t good, Carine is not going to change anything. We will see the collection but the article besides being a PR disaster just feels a bit cry baby-ish. You come to a city as the head designer of Givenchy? Try at least to be part of the scene…
Who cares about him not having not so much friends in Paris? You have a position of power, you can gather a lot of different individuals around you, there are friendly designers around like Olivier, Haider, Louboutin, Charaf…etc. A whole community. Instead you decided to only be around your US Rapper friends and complain.

Obviously, unlike Riccardo, the man didn’t do his homework, didn’t went to the archives and believed that backing up poorly the Riccardo DNA was going to work.

His days are more than counted at LVMH. He wasn’t even part of the LVMH Prize jury and it’s sure that his own fragrance will be discontinued! We are in the third dimension when instead of releasing an It Bag or an It-shoe to pump up the sales, the man decides to create a fragrance that won’t be part of the regular collection and that won’t have any significative impact on sales.

He clearly doesn’t have his priority together…Otherwise, this article would have never been published.

 

[IloveDiorHomme]

What a pathetic man...Such a wannabe.

He can hire any stylist, from Lotta Volkova to Carine Roitfeld, it won't change a thing. The guy is completely disconnected to realities and his vision of Givenchy is irrelevant. The problem is not the styling, the timing, the PR, the show venue.Whatever. It's the product itself.

Boxy complicated bags with agressive hardware, ridiculous shoes trying to be groundbreaking and useless garments that looks like H&M divided line with a fugly logo printed all over.

Go open a tattoo salon "MR WILLIAMS" and quit that industry named fashion that you don't understand/respect at all.

 

[Salvatore]

If the clothes ain’t good, Carine is not going to change anything. We will see the collection but the article besides being a PR disaster just feels a bit cry baby-ish. You come to a city as the head designer of Givenchy? Try at least to be part of the scene…
Who cares about him not having not so much friends in Paris? You have a position of power, you can gather a lot of different individuals around you, there are friendly designers around like Olivier, Haider, Louboutin, Charaf…etc. A whole community. Instead you decided to only be around your US Rapper friends and complain.

Obviously, unlike Riccardo, the man didn’t do his homework, didn’t went to the archives and believed that backing up poorly the Riccardo DNA was going to work.

His days are more than counted at LVMH. He wasn’t even part of the LVMH Prize jury and it’s sure that his own fragrance will be discontinued! We are in the third dimension when instead of releasing an It Bag or an It-shoe to pump up the sales, the man decides to create a fragrance that won’t be part of the regular collection and that won’t have any significative impact on sales.

He clearly doesn’t have his priority together…Otherwise, this article would have never been published.

I think on one hand, he knew he was not really equipped to lead at Givenchy and he stayed in his comfort zone of rappers, but on the other hand his ego wasn’t ready to be challenged by those with more experience, talent, and vision. In both cases, it caused him to run in a circle that would never push him to grow. He didn’t even seem to try to use charm like Jacquemus does and gets by on. If I was in position, I would have definitely tried to use my charm and connect with the important figures in the French fashion scene in a genuine way while recognizing I am an American (lol you know exactly what I mean, Lola ). It was just an unsuccessful pairing and he was a fish that thought or tried to convince himself he was big enough for that ocean, but was out of his depth. He could go to Off White.

I feel LVMH should hire Haider. I feel his haute couture collection for Gaultier will be somewhat of a subtle audition to show what he can do given a proper atelier and I sincerely hope he knocks it out of the f***ing park !

 

[Frederic01]

In trying to understand why MW was hired in the first place I started to dig into old articles, and then I found a lot of curious information about Givenchy that was new to me.

The first thing I discovered was that the brand generated only €400 million per year under Riccardo Tisci. How on earth they thought they could get to 2 billion with MW is mind-blowing considering even Tisci did not even generate those kinds of sales and he is an extraordinary talent.

LVMH does not break out Givenchy's performance, but reports estimate the brand currently generates over €400 million per year.

Business of Fashion

The second thing I discovered was that Clare's menswear was more successful than her womenswear? That was quite surprising to me.

Under Tisci, Givenchy's men's business was crucial to its success, and this part of the brand remained robust under Waight Keller’s watch, according to retail market sources. The women's ready-to-wear and accessories, however, never took off.

Business of Fashion

The point is, Givenchy had a good thing going with Clare, which could have been fine-tuned to be a success, but it was all mismanaged from the top, and now the brand image has been ruined.

The fact that people are more excited about Burberry under Daniel Lee than they are about a French Haute Couture Maison with such an illustrious history and archive as Givenchy, is a very sad state of affairs.

 

[Lola701]

I think on one hand, he knew he was not really equipped to lead at Givenchy and he stayed in his comfort zone of rappers, but on the other hand his ego wasn’t ready to be challenged by those with more experience, talent, and vision. In both cases, it caused him to run in a circle that would never push him to grow. He didn’t even seem to try to use charm like Jacquemus does and gets by on. If I was in position, I would have definitely tried to use my charm and connect with the important figures in the French fashion scene in a genuine way while recognizing I am an American (lol you know exactly what I mean, Lola ). It was just an unsuccessful pairing and he was a fish that thought or tried to convince himself he was big enough for that ocean, but was out of his depth. He could go to Off White.

I feel LVMH should hire Haider. I feel his haute couture collection for Gaultier will be somewhat of a subtle audition to show what he can do given a proper atelier and I sincerely hope he knocks it out of the f***ing park !

Totally on board with everything you said but I think when someone isn’t that easy for you, make it easier for you. I think about Riccardo at Burberry. It was a bad fit but from another angle, his Burberry spoke and was in a way in tune with a certain British scene…Slightly more underground, more urban, more edgy…It did appeal to the same generation Matthew was trying to attract at Burberry. That scene exist in Paris.
An American designer having it hard in Paris, we had it with Tom Ford. I think he would have been clever if he had the intelligence of a designer to go where nobody expected him to go. Obviously, with his next collection he wants to « save his job » but does he really have the talent indeed…You know my opinion.
I’ve always been supportive of Haider. I mean the guy doesn’t have a brand but can dress Timothee Chalamet and cause a stir on social media while the Matthew guy had all the advertisement budget of the world and access to bloggers and can’t even create a firecracker.

In trying to understand why MW was hired in the first place I started to dig into old articles, and then I found a lot of curious information about Givenchy that was new to me.

The first thing I discovered was that the brand generated only €400 million per year under Riccardo Tisci. How on earth they thought they could get to 2 billion with MW is mind-blowing considering even Tisci did not even generate those kinds of sales and he is an extraordinary talent.


Business of Fashion

The second thing I discovered was that Clare's menswear was more successful than her womenswear? That was quite surprising to me.


Business of Fashion

The point is, Givenchy had a good thing going with Clare, which could have been fine-tuned to be a success, but it was all mismanaged from the top, and now the brand image has been ruined.

The fact that people are more excited about Burberry under Daniel Lee than they are about a French Haute Couture Maison with such an illustrious history and archive as Givenchy, is a very sad state of affairs.

I think I remember reading that they reached the 500M number by the time Riccardo left.
Givenchy was actually beyond small when Riccardo joined the brand…It was almost Balmain type of small and the success was slow but steady. I remember the retailers at the time believed in it right away when the press wasn’t really on board. The FW 2007 collection was really his first hit but it wasn’t until 2008 that the machine was launched.

Riccardo has really settled the bases for a healthy menswear business because logos sweaters always sells in a way. I think by the time he left the menswear and womenswear were hand-in-hand in terms of numbers but remember that at the time, tshirts weren’t selling for 900€.
The fragrances weren’t doing that great when Riccardo was at the helm either.

Why Matthew was hired? Because Virgil was hired…Matthew had more of the same profile, always seen in the scene and somehow also a friend of Alexandre so he got the job. And they already saw that Streetwear was the thing and the supposed hype behind Alix convinced them.

After all, that’s what you get when you hire a designer without a strong POV who barely can design.
It’s also interesting that people uses Lady Gaga so much in his story telling when she barely or never wore his clothes.

 

[rip_ian curtis]

Wow, I really enjoyed reading that article for all the wrong reasons. He sounds so done and desperate and like he’s got an ultimatum from his bosses.

The fact that he will work with Carine will not help him or Givenchy. Despite her glorious past, she has become a total sell-out of a stylist these days. All of us know how this collection will look like, full of lukewarm Carine-cliches and the same dated ”edgy” trash by Matthew. I bet no other stylist was willing to work with this guy.

Also, very disappointed with Nick Knight calling this guy a ”special designer”.

 

[GivenchyAddict]

^Indeed Givenchy struggled a lot to find a stylist. A lot of them declined and did not want to be associated with Matthew. This is also why so many changes from Lotta to Panos to Max Pearmain and now Carine.

I don't care about him because he is indeed the typical American crybaby (boo Paris does not love me). We are not here to love him. We all want an interesting collection. He has not delivered in any department so far from accessories to RTW. His visuals at Givenchy are very lacklustre.

I am very optimistic about Haider being back because he is the perfect match for Givenchy and a more elegant and dapper aesthetic than Riccardo yet having a lot in common.

 

[perhydrol]

Givenchy's PR department must be working harder than Kris Jenner, as the title of the article is now changed to Givenchy on the Line.

 

[disco54]

LOL. The fact that he named a Givenchy fragrance after himself (whereas no fragrance exists called Hubert de Givenchy) just says all you need to know about this guy.

View attachment 1217798
GIVENCHY

As someone who owns Givenchy fragrances , this is very strange lol. It should be noted besides Interdit , most of their line does not sell well at all, their men's line does not have any sellers, nowhere in the league of Dior's Sauvage or Chanel's BdC..

 

[yslforever]

LVMH owns Le Bon Marché department store in Paris. It is a good indicator of how LVMH invest in their brands: Vuitton, Loewe, Loro Piana, Celine, Fendi, Dior, Dior Homme, Celine, Rimowa, Bulgari, Tiffany, Acqua di Parma, Chaumet, Tag Heuer etc have all large in-store corners on the ground floor. Non LVMH brands like Chanel, BV, Valentino and Balenciaga too. The champagne and beauty brands have also their own spaces.
Givenchy's women accessories have been relegated with the smaller independant bag brands, and their menswear used to be on the mens' floor. They replaced it with Loewe menswear.
It just means LVMH is disinvesting from this version of Givenchy and does not believe in Mr. Williams.
Who could blame them when you still see the Disney x Givenchy merch on the website ?

 

[toffie]

Lol @ Kanye’s Instagram rant on how LVMH is treating Matthew

 

[LadyJunon]

Lol @ Kanye’s Instagram rant on how LVMH is treating Matthew

Part of the rant in question:

KANYE'S INSTAGRAM

 

[Kimihiro]

Someone has the full thing?

 

[LadyJunon]

Someone has the full thing?

IDK, but he says something about Kim Jones before it cuts off.

 

[Kimihiro]

IDK, but he says something about Kim Jones before it cuts off.

Yes! Sorry, I really want to know what he’s saying about kim.

Also liking his own post… oh well.

 

[lucy92]

Imagine thinking that the Costume Institute at the Met should be honoring him already....

From the NYtimes piece:
New York is where he started Alyx, something he felt the curators of the Met Costume Institute overlooked when they didn’t include him in last year’s exhibition celebrating a wide swath of American fashion designers.

“I think sometimes maybe the Americans forget that I’m American,” he said.