Givenchy creative director Matthew M. Williams emphasized dresses at the French fashion house’s fall runway show at Paris Fashion Week on Thursday, sending out a slew of long, slinky gowns that swept the runway.
After the menswear show in January, Matthew M. Williams’s attempts to harmonize his design persona with the ambiguous house profile were largely unsuccessful. This was due to several factors, including the inability to engage the audience due to Covid, elaborate collections that were presented in an excessively bombastic manner, and then a rainstorm. Today, though, he appears to have discovered a successful formula for enticingly fusing himself with the house that Hubert created.
The École Militaire’s appealingly clothes-focused Givenchy white box again hosted today’s performance. It included new, women’s wear-specific components while reiterating some of the menswear formulas from January. Once more, the show started off with a base of black tailoring with waisted tailoring, some of which was made in a couture studio. Generous box pleats at the back and two inward-facing buttoned-down pleats running down each side of the jackets or coats were the distinguishing features of the couture dresses. These fashion-forward elements were replaced by soft-shouldered double-breasted mini-dress jackets with organza trains on the edges. Then two black and purple leather bouncer jackets arrived; they served as the cornerstones of Givenchy’s Williams 2.0 era.
Before the first of the adapted Givenchy archival pieces that would punctuate the rest of the collection, we saw big-shouldered outerwear, a split black leather skirt with jean pockets below a black mousseline top, and a strong shirred black leather dress. The show’s second act was entirely original to Williams. These were considerably more daring layer cake styles that combined distressed leathers with knits, zippered leather skirts or kilts, frayed Japanese denim, and kicky pants made from menswear textiles or houndstooth-bonded leather. These looks were constructed similarly with different materials, but they all finely portrayed the impulse stated in January.
The third act was about dresses, giving the show the spark it needed. Models strutted down the stark, white runway with gowns featuring plunging necklines, large slits, and only a few accents of vibrant hues. Three emerald green outfits served as its introduction, building up to a replica of a green silk garment from the 1970s with a floral pattern that inspired the Williams jewels. Sheer vivid pink and lavender gowns with a long fluttering train revealed nipples and buttocks.
Occasional belts lined with metal loops, leg straps with buckles, and a large, gold handle on a brilliant green clutch remained as signature ornaments, chains, and extra buckles.
Sitting front row at the Givenchy show was Jared Leto. The actor, 51, put on a stunning display while going shirtless underneath a glittering gold jacket and continued his outfit with black slacks and a pink smokey eye. The star-studded front row also included Iris Law, Lisa Rinna, Halsey, Madelaine Petsch, and Mia Regan.