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Life
De Givenchy was born in Beauvais, France into a wealthy family. Impressed by the 1937 World's Fair in Paris, young de Givenchy decided he wanted to work "somewhere in fashion design". He studied at the cole des Beaux Arts in Paris. His first designs were done for Jacques Fath in 1945, later he did designs for Lucien Lelong (1946) working alongside the still-unknown Pierre Balmain and Christian Dior. From 1947 to 1951 he worked for the famous avant-garde designer Elsa Schiaparelli.
In 1952, Givenchy opened his own design house at the Plaine Monceau in Paris. Later he named his first collection "Bettina Graziani" for Paris's top model at the time. His style was marked by innovativeness, contrary to the more conservative designs by Dior.
At 25, he was the youngest designer of the progressive Paris fashion scene. His first collections were characterized by the use of rather more cheap fabrics for financial reasons, but they always piqued curiosity through their design.
Audrey Hepburn, later the most prominent proponent of Givenchy's fashion, and Givenchy met in 1953 during the shoot of Sabrina. He went on to design almost all the wardrobe worn by her in her movies. He also developed his first perfume collection for her. Grace Kelly and Jackie Kennedy were other famous customers of Givenchy's.
At that time, de Givenchy also met his idol, Cristobal Balenciaga, who had also influenced Paco Rabanne's work previously.
In 1968, Givenchy's Pret-a-porter collection debuted, later a men's line was also launched.
The House of Givenchy was split in 1981, with the perfume line going to Veuve Clicquot, while the fashion branch went to the Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy group's portfolio of upscale brands.
Hubert de Givenchy retreated from fashion design in 1995. After a brief stint by John Galliano and later Alexander McQueen as creative directors, Julien McDonald has been in charge of design at Givenchy.
| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hubert_de_givenchy the free encyclopedia 2/2/06 |