Givenchy

Givenchy was founded in 1952 by Hubert de Givenchy in Paris at the age of 25 — making him the youngest founder of a major couture house in living memory. Audrey Hepburn was a customer from the brand's first collection; the lifelong friendship between Hepburn and Givenchy produced the wardrobes for Sabrina (1954), Funny Face (1957), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961, including the most-photographed little black dress in history), and Charade (1963). Givenchy's couture vocabulary was understated, architectural, and trained on the body as sculpture. Hubert de Givenchy retired in 1995 and sold the house to LVMH (the acquisition had been completed in 1988). The post-Givenchy creative chapters have been: John Galliano (1995-96, briefly), Alexander McQueen (1996-2001, much-discussed and creatively challenging), Julien Macdonald (2001-2003), Riccardo Tisci (2005-2017, transformed the brand into a global streetwear-luxury crossover with Mark Sage's panther-print shirts and the famous Rottweiler graphic), Clare Waight Keller (2017-2020, included Meghan Markle's wedding dress), Matthew M. Williams (2020-2024, attempted streetwear via Alyx-adjacent codes), and Sarah Burton, who took over in 2024 after leaving Alexander McQueen. Givenchy is wholly owned by LVMH. Hubert de Givenchy died in 2018. The brand has spent the past decade in repeated creative restructuring, each time signaling a different reading of what the maison could become. Burton's first collection, presented in March 2025, has been received as the most cohesive Givenchy vision in years — a return to the couture-tier sculpture-on-the-body language that Hubert built the house on.