FASHION QUOTE:
HUBERT de GIVENCHY
“Real couture is not taking a piece of chiffon and stitching it into a flower, it is knowing how to match bias with grain”.
Written by Andrew Sia
Illustrated by Elita Lam
Count Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy was a French aristocrat and a fashion design who founded the House of Givenchy in 1952. His fame was the personal wardrobe designer of Audrey Hepburn and Jacqueline Kennedy.
He was born in February 20, 1927 and died in March 10, 2018 at the age of 91
He was born in Beauvais, Oise and was the youngest son of Lucien Taffin de Givenchy, Marquis of Givenchy. The family of the Taffin de Givenchy family, can traces its roots to Venice, Italy. The original surname was Taffini, was ennobled in 1713 and at the time the head of the family became Marquis of Givenchy. This title was inherited by his elder brother, Jean-Claude de Givenchy, and eventually became the president of Parfums Givenchy.
When his father died of influenza in 1930, he was raised by his mother and grandmother who was Marguerite Dieterle Badin, the widow of Jules Badin, who was an artist and the owner and director of the historic Gobelins Manufactory and Beauvais tapestry factories.
The Gobelins Manufacturing is a historic tapestry factory in Paris built in medieval as a dyeing business by the family of Gobelin and is still available for guided tour.
The Beauvais Manufacturing is a historic tapestry factory in Beauvais, and it is considered as the second most important after Gobelins Manufacturing. It is a French tapestry workshops that was established by Jean-Baptiste Colbert who was the finance minister of Louis XIV.
The Gobelins Manufacturing was producing high-warp tapestries for the royal residences and also as ambassadorial gifts, while it remained as a private business working on low-warp tapestry weaving.
Givenchy’s great-grandfather from his wife’s side, Jules Dieterle, was a set designer who created designs for the Beauvais factory.
Givenchy moved to Paris at the age of 17 and started to study at École des Beaux-Arts which is one of the influential art schools in France. The school has a 350-year history training many of the famous artists in Europe and is located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre.
His first designs were done for Jacques Faith in 1945. Givenchy then moved on to work for Robert Piguet and Lucien Lelong in 1946, he was working alongside with the still unknown Pierre Balmain and Christian Dior. From 1947 to 1951, he worked for the avantgarde Elsa Schiaparelli.
It was in 1952 he opened his own design house at the Plaine Monceau in Paris. At that time he was considered as the youngest designer of the progressive Paris fashion scene.
At the set of Sabrina, Givenchy met Audrey Hepburn, who later became the most prominent proponent of Givenchy’s fashion. He designed the black dress worn by her in Breakfast at Tiffany’s and also develop his first perfume collection for her.
Givenchy’s list of notable clients included Ingrid Bergman, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Grace Kelly, Sophia Loren, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Diane Vreeland, and I just named a few.
In 1954, Givenchy presented his first prêt-à-porter collection.
It was until only in 1969, he created a men’s line.
He was even named with the 1976 Lincoln Continental Mark IV coupe that ended in 1983.
The House of Givenchy was split in 1981 and the perfume went to Veuve Clicquot, and the fashion piece was acquired by LVMH in 1989. As of today, LVMH owns Parfums Givenchy as well.
Hubert de Givenchy retired from fashion design in 1995 and to head the Givenchy label were John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Julien Macdonald, Riccardo Tisci, Clare Waight Keller at different times, and Matthew M. Williams became Givenchy’s creative director in June 2020.
Today we are here to remember his quote, “Real couture is not taking a piece of chiffon and stitching it into a flower, it is knowing how to match bias with grain
Courtesy from: YouTube –
Why You Should Know About Audrey Hepburn and Givenchy’s Collaboration
by Henry Wilkinson
Courtesy from: YouTube –
PARIS: FASHION DESIGNER HUBERT DE GIVENCHY’S LAST FASHION SHOW
by AP Archive