Matthew M. Williams - Designer

[tourbillions]

only reason givenchy is still selling is because of tisci era

 

[Nimsay]

why isnt Giv asking for Riccardo back. LVMH is not in the position to be losing access to Couturiers with KJ f*cking Fendi up with his amateur constructions.

 

[fenty]

JACQUEMUS?? Oh God.......

 

[Lola701]

why isnt Giv asking for Riccardo back. LVMH is not in the position to be losing access to Couturiers with KJ f*cking Fendi up with his amateur constructions.

Asking a designer to comeback is a sign of defeat. Riccardo wasn’t fired or forced to leave. Why would he want to go back to a brand he decided to leave?
Givenchy is still profitable but not growing. I’m not sure that Riccardo has anything else to say at Givenchy.

I think what the lack of success of Clare and Matthew proved is that, talent or buzz are not enough. Delphine probably though that Clare was talented. And at the time, Karl said in many interviews that he liked her work but talent without a plan or an identity is nothing. Matthew is the influence of Alexandre, the Kanye crowd. The formula worked for Virgil. Williams had his own successful brand, a buzz and a community of followers but an heritage brand needs something more.

Galliano or McQueen as talented as they were didn’t have any plan for Givenchy either. Lee’s work for the brand for example makes no absolute sense.

Kim Jones understand commerce and merchandising more than fashion. Givenchy however is not a brand that can rely on logos and collabs. Even at the peak of Riccardo’s success, they relied on seasonal prints but Riccardo sold a lot of solid color clothes.

 

[gallianostan]

Galliano or McQueen as talented as they were didn’t have any plan for Givenchy either. Lee’s work for the brand for example makes no absolute sense.

i always thought john and givenchy were quite compatible, even from the very first proposition. lee's first show, however, was more or less a disaster and i still can't pin down why. once he softened his approach, (hc ss98), his givenchy began to take flight.

 

[Nimsay]

I thought that Lee's Giv was one of his best runs creatively, so much of his work there still lives in my head. The Olympics and Microchip collections were ahead of their time. I think that Sarah Burton's work dovetails his work at Giv too. Specifically all the gorgeous tailoring he did.

Anyway, LVMH asked Hedi back. Why not Ricc. At least it would get Givenchy squared away. Fendi is practically in shambles ... DH is a mess of unwearable dandy-style clothes ... LV Homme needs a CD soon ... These are LVMHs biggest 3 brands needing a skilled seam designer.

Give Ricky Givenchy and do a tiny HC. Maybe to get him a bigger design team to help carry the off-runway collection.

 

[style_expert]

It's not quite the same since LVMH asked Hedi back but at a different house. Not to mention Hedi had an incredible track record by then, completely reviving Saint Laurent commercially and providing a blue print for the branding on which they still somehow rely to this day.
I don't know how much of a catch Riccardo still is to be honest. His Givenchy was a highlight but his Burberry failed to meet up to the commercial expectations and was received rather luke-warm. More than anything I could see him at an Italian house, he has been linked to Versace so many times already but it's definitely something that could suit him.

LVMH is not shy at poaching the best talents from their competitors so I wouldn't be surprised if Sarah Burton would find her way to a LVMH house when her non-compete allows it. Alesandro Michele at Fendi seems almost a given at this point. I can't see how they would give Kim Jones another try at a different house after his lackluster Fendi. I wouldn't be surprised if they plan something for Phoebe Philo despite her previous comments.
Jacquemus I pray not but after Pharrell nothing would surprise me coming from LVMH.
For Givenchy I don't think they can play around much longer, they need to come with a major improvement and major investments.

 

[reese06]

Givenchy needs someone who will be invested and hands on, not galavanting around the world approving sketches from their team

 

[style_expert]

Apparently also some rumors about Julien Dossena for Givenchy...

 

[susseinmcswanny]

Givenchy should just close up shop bc nobody cares anymore. Before Tisci it looked like a good place for talented people to get experience in a couture house and grow but now what is the point of it. We have enough merch factories and there's not a distinct enough "DNA" (sorry) for anyone to care unless they are actually gonna invest in someones vision which won't be the case.

 

[Lola701]

i always thought john and givenchy were quite compatible, even from the very first proposition. lee's first show, however, was more or less a disaster and i still can't pin down why. once he softened his approach, (hc ss98), his givenchy began to take flight.

I didn’t like his Givenchy. His clothes were beautiful, that’s not the issue (because Classic Galliano always works) but at Givenchy, it felt like he forced himself. At Dior, he was beyond at ease.
When you look at his SS1995, it’s basically Dior before his time at Dior and even better than Dior by Ferre from the same year.
At Dior, he was able to reach his full potential because no other house in Parisian fashion has embodied so much that extreme feminity he was a master at….

I thought that Lee's Giv was one of his best runs creatively, so much of his work there still lives in my head. The Olympics and Microchip collections were ahead of their time. I think that Sarah Burton's work dovetails his work at Giv too. Specifically all the gorgeous tailoring he did.

Anyway, LVMH asked Hedi back. Why not Ricc. At least it would get Givenchy squared away. Fendi is practically in shambles ... DH is a mess of unwearable dandy-style clothes ... LV Homme needs a CD soon ... These are LVMHs biggest 3 brands needing a skilled seam designer.

Give Ricky Givenchy and do a tiny HC. Maybe to get him a bigger design team to help carry the off-runway collection.

Lee’s Givenchy was a mess for me because he didn’t try to understand Givenchy. Sure, there were very beautiful clothes, particularly in Couture and I love somehow his fall 97 RTW collection…But he didn’t liked his time in Paris at that time, he wasn’t into it and it showed. Some collections literally looked like an after though.

Hedi left Dior Homme because he wanted more than menswear but didn’t want to create his own house. Givenchy by Riccardo, from the first season was already quite received well commercially.

The Arnault asked Hedi to comeback because Celine had the perfect infrastructure for what Hedi tried to do. He has the total trust and creative control over everything that he didn’t have at YSL for example.

Riccardo can be asked back by the Arnault but for another house. He already had everything at Givenchy. What would be the challenge for him?
It’s known that Delphine keep up with designers so she might be in contact with him but do we really want Riccardo back at Givenchy?
Personally, I don’t.

As much as I would want him at Versace, I don’t think Donatella would ever want to retire. He would be good for Dior womenswear to be honest. That would be a real challenge for him…

There’s not a shortage of talents that are free agents now to take over Givenchy. It’s a matter of courage and bet also from the suits.

 

[lookatme]

Tisci designed himself into a corner and it showed during his Burberry tenure, too. Once his streetwear aesthetic became his “signature” he couldn’t pivot from that. His early Givenchy years were so elegant and elevated and romantic. After the Rottweiler collection, though, everything sort of flatlined and became extremely predictable.

Lola is right - John didn’t work for the house and once he hit Dior he soared. Lee didn’t fit Givenchy, either. He did hit a sort of creative stride once he really dug into the Couture a few seasons in and pushed himself to really absorb what the ateliers had to offer (for example, I can think of his Japanese Couture collection…such a feat!). But the problem was it never felt Givenchy…it was just McQueen.

Tisci was the only designer since Hubert to sort of melt into the name Givenchy.

Anyway - I really don’t think Givenchy can be saved currently. There isn’t a single working designer today who can be the defibrillator that Givenchy needs - no one working today has the vision and more concerning, no one has the technical skill.

I honestly think the only thing that could work for the house would be to embrace Audrey Hepburn as an inspiration. With Tisci out of the picture, it just doesn't make sense for this to be such a dead-serious brand. I think it’s why both Clare and Matthew failed - they were both so icy and humorless. It would probably be fruitful to let the house be playful, warm, feminine, glamorous and fun. Send a model down the runway in a chic black dress with a beehive and sunglasses eating a croissant. Let the house smile.

 

[FAdS]

Give the house back to Julien. Let him have a redemption story arc.

 

[grimm]

I have a feeling it will be Willy Chavarria that goes there, and they will most likely ditch couture forever. I think he can offer an update on the Tisci years which the brand seems so beholden to.

 

[gallianostan]

I have a feeling it will be Willy Chavarria that goes there, and they will most likely ditch couture forever. I think he can offer an update on the Tisci years which the brand seems so beholden to.

no

 

[LadyJunon]

Can we finally strip off the "Creative Director of Givenchy" part of the title? His tenure ended 10 days ago.

 

[gallianostan]

matthew m. williams - unemployed

 

[gallianostan]

i actually can't believe that, in just one night, two dresses from the 90s have generated more hype and interest for the house than they've had in the last five years... LVMH should be mortified

 

[tourbillions]

i actually can't believe that, in just one night, two dresses from the 90s have generated more hype and interest for the house than they've had in the last five years... LVMH should be mortified

this is why they need burton asap. im gonna live under my fantasy of her secretly being appointed and making these dressess come to light. I doubt Givenchy's current team could have tailored these dresses for the met gala...

 

[gallianostan]

this is why they need burton asap. im gonna live under my fantasy of her secretly being appointed and making these dressess come to light. I doubt Givenchy's current team could have tailored these dresses for the met gala...

i think they'd benefit from galliano far more than burton. she's a brilliant dressmaker and tailor but if they want hype... she is not the one for the job. they need a big rebrand - fashion with a capital F. john is the only one who can deliver that