Gardens as metaphors: Love Letter from Clare Waight Keller to Maison Givenchy

 

 

Gardens as metaphors. Signposts and signals for lives lived, friendships nurtured, seasons passed. The haute couture collection for Spring/Summer 2020 unfolds as a “Love Letter” from Clare Waight Keller to Maison Givenchy.

Givenchy presented its haute couture collection for Spring/Summer 2020 with majestic creations by Clare Waight Keller, Artistic Director of the Maison.

What better or more romantic way to express love than flowers?

Clare Waight Keller considers gardens as a tapestry of time and circumstance – a timeless reprise for the Givenchy Haute Couture Spring Summer 2020 collection.

The Givenchy Artistic Director drew on the atmosphere of inspiring gardens, from the green “rooms” of Sissinghurst and the orchards of Monk’s House – Virginia Woolf’s cottage – to Hubert de Givenchy’s own Clos Fiorentina. From these inspirations bloomed floral creations that nurture the beauty of the feminine form.

Allusive volumes evoke the petals of irises, pansies are transformed into refined jacquard and embroidery flourishes in sprays of delicate gypsophila. The pure white of tuberose is joined by blue periwinkle, yellow marigold, violet and dragée pink, before ceding to the deep blacks and shimmering metallics of a nocturnal garden.

Precious fabrics trace voluptuous whorls, contrasting with the finesse of nipped waists or an exposed shoulder. The exceptional savoir-faire of the Givenchy ateliers was showcased in a majestic organza gown with pearl embroidery.

For its Spring-Summer 2020 advertising campaign, the House of Givenchy revisits its signature “couple” theme with an iconoclastic new pairing.

Dressed in key looks of the season, the timeless icons Charlotte Rampling and Marc Jacobs evoke memories of Paris and New York in the Nineties in images lensed by the photographer Craig McDean under the guidance of Artistic Director Clare Waight Keller. Individualism and iconoclasm embrace the liberated, self-assured allure that is so emblematic of Givenchy ready-to-wear and accessories.