Snarling sharks, vicious Rottweiler’s, Vampiric representations of Kanye West—no, this is not your 6 year old brother’s dream wardrobe. This is Kanye West and Jay-Z with personalized t-shirts on their critically acclaimed, and highly publicized Watch the Throne tour. This is French couture and Parisian fashion at its finest. This is fashion house Givenchy, and creative director Riccardo Tisci, putting whatever he wants on a t-shirt and you shelling out $600 for it. One of Givenchy’s most memorable moments is its appearance at the late John F. Kennedy’s funeral, most notably Jackie O dressed in the graceful clothes. Givenchy is a line formerly known for its dedication to elegance and grace, but has inevitably been shrouded in darkness like the death of the President. Lately, Givenchy has been emphasizing dark motifs by plastering images of vicious animals and Riccardo Tisci’s fascination with religious themes; abstract faces of The Madonna adorning much of Tisci’s latest Spring Men’s Ready to Wear Line. However, Givenchy remains a popular choice for celebrities, not only is the aforementioned Kanye West constantly seen wearing Givenchy, he also has used Tisci to design his two latest album covers, as well as his tour apparel and merchandise. The collaboration with West has undoubtedly helped cement Givenchy’s status in popular culture as a refined as well as unflinchingly cool line. What we can say about Givenchy is that they are not following trends, they are leading and therefore aligning themselves with culture’s others leaders.
This analysis will focus on Givenchy’s latest line, the Spring 2013 Ready to Wear line, a line which comes at the crux of Givenchy truly expressing his inner inspirations while fitting into the fashion Givenchy has been making its own over the past couple seasons. The culmination of bold graphics, all over prints, dark themes, in addition to Tisci’s background “as a good Catholic boy from Southern Italy,” as noted by Tim Blanks of Style.com. Banks writes that never before has Tisci been able to successfully integrate “the allure of both saintliness and sin.” As the lights dimmed and the models prepared to walk out for Givenchy’s spring show, an organ started to bellow and incense filled the room. This spring line seemed to be everything that Tisci had envisioned. Tisci, the first communicator in the process of fashion as communication, truly used this line as a form his artistic vision.
To make his artistic vision leave a note, Tisci did not leave the room that blared with organs and featured expressionless women dressed in airy dresses with chokers and necklines that mimicked priests without a plan. To make his art matter, Givenchy, like any true artist, put his product on the market. Tisci knows the power of his endorsement from rapper, designer, producer, art lover, movie director etc etc. jack of all spades and cultural connoisseur, Kanye West. In an ad for Vogue, Riccardo Tisci is featured sitting in an armchair among women dressed in lacy, assumedly his, dresses. The only other male in the advert sits a couple feet away, shirtless, in a matching armchair, the one and only Kanye West. The copy at the bottom of the ad reads, “Tisci’s Time.” And Tisci’s time it is. The designer is communicating what one has to imagine was his true artistic vision seasons in the making, he has the endorsements of countless celebrities and critics are fawning over the designer’s latest work and trend setting ability.
In the review of Givenchy’s latest line, Vogue magazine showered praise on the designer, confirming Tisci’s vision and the house’s design in general. Vogue mentions that Tisci successfully “filtered [the past’s] elements through his own entirely contemporary sensibility.” Givenchy was able to do this without the “thoughtless revisiting of the past that some designers have fallen prey to this season.” Vogue’s edification of other’s designer’s work gives more credence to the work of Givenchy who also has the support of innumerable celebrities but also the critical respect of the world’s most reputable fashion magazine. Vogue’s review is proof that Givenchy is able to retain its high fashion roots while accommodating the popular dress of culture’s cutting edge population. Givenchy’s favorable reviews have given them the right to continue to be more daring and continue venturing further into the themes that Tisci finds most interesting and have peeked in and out of Givenchy’s very recent lines until finding itself the main theme in this Spring 2013 line. It appears that this is a long thought out process by Givenchy, easing itself into bold graphics and molding the religious themes slowly into the evolving cunning and daring of Tisci’s work. Givenchy has been creating trends; Blanks writes that “the Virgin Mary will be as inescapable as birds of paradise are now, and Rottweilers were then.” Trends are not just notable for its importance to high fashion and the appearance on celebrities, but trends are inevitably followed by sales.
A quick Google search shows that Givenchy can only be found at the highest retailer. The power of selectivity belongs to Givenchy. By making itself solely available to the finest of retailers—not even Neiman Marcus, or London’s most ballyhooed Harrod’s carried all of Givenchy’s line—Barney’s New York was the only large retailer to carry Givenchy. Other than that there’s a smattering of smaller, more specialized retailers that carry the famous designer. By only making itself available to the public in small doses, demand for the line goes up. The popular, wearable designs of Givenchy’s large animal graphics became popular choices for celebrities while only the most elite retailers had access to sell the clothes that were suddenly so trendy. Givenchy’s genius was retaining this rareness making it more attractive to celebrities to be seen in it and therefore more desirable to consumers. Having the fashion of the latest, most fashionable celebrities gives much clout to Givenchy and enables its endeavor to remain high fashion while also profiting and being relevant. However, the respect of the line cannot be entirely based on the respect of the celebrities, without public perception giving credence to the belief that Givenchy is a high fashion designer.
Givenchy’s Facebook page gives a snapshot true to Givenchy’s consumers and certainly what Givenchy aims for while crafting its Facebook page. Givenchy’s page is filled with posts ranging from photos of their latest line, photos of Givenchy clothes seen on the cover of magazine’s, and celebrities seen in Givenchy’s. Givenchy’s page attracts consumers that are not only interested in wearing clothes. They are interested in fashion, art, and what was behind the newest, coolest clothing. Givenchy is followed by other pages like, For Fashion Lovers, who comment on the posts. The other large portion of the audience is fashion enthusiasts who speculate on the inspiration behind the clothes. The perception of Givenchy as high fashion, as well as accessibly fashionable and trendy, now helps their consumers appear that same way by commenting and liking the Givenchy page on Facebook.
It is a cycle of critics and celebrities giving authority to Givenchy that create the desire of the consumer to be seen liking the Givenchy page. The consumers comments critiquing and analyzing the line makes them appear knowledgeable. Therefore, even if the consumer cannot afford to wear Givenchy, social media enables them to show off to their friends without the clothes. Comments appear on Facebook feeds, and likes are public domain. These message boards create a community where people who are enthusiastic about fashion can come together. Givenchy uses their Facebook page as a tool to create a community where they dictate the conversation. Givenchy decides that they are discussing their fashion in an analytical light and viewing their clothes on celebrities. All the while they are using their existing fan base and engaging them even more, entrenching them in an appreciation of Givenchy not just borne out of the clothes, but of a respect cultivated by all the previously discussed means of communication. The high art status, the celebrity endorsement and the aptly placed products on magazine covers all create the perfect image for Givenchy without them having to do a lot of advertising in the traditional sense.
For a high fashion brand, such as Givenchy, traditional advertising can be seen as cheap and unnecessary, not that much different than advertising for top colleges. Because they are so desirable they have the ability to be selective. However, this does not mean Givenchy is not advertising, they are just doing it in a smarter, more subliminal sense. The November 2012 cover of Glamour France shows Eva Mendes wearing Givenchy’s famous Rottweiler shirt. This is a brilliant advertising move by Givenchy for two reasons: celebrity endorsement and the perception of Paris as the capital of fashion and all things haute couture. Of course, being a French brand, one is not insisting that Givenchy is faking anything, but the cover photo (proudly posted to the Facebook page, of course) is great proof for the house that they are contemporary, relevant, and high fashion by appearing on France’s Glamour magazine. This is especially smart because typically an advertisement lives in the middle of the magazine and it is clearly just that-an advertisement. However, when seen on the cover adorning a celebrity, it is taken as an endorsement of that brand by both the celebrity and the magazine.
The avenues of communication that Givenchy uses to sell its line are all entirely cyclical. One cannot exist without the other. Givenchy uses all these: celebrities, retailers, consumers, critics, and accepted truths to bolster sales and their own reputation. But in return Givenchy is being used by all these avenues for the same purposes. Celebrities wear Givenchy because they know the perception of the clothes: expensive, trendy, high fashion, and difficult to find for the public consumer. Without all these facets coming together and churning out cultural relevance the system would not work as seamlessly as it does now. In a complicated give and take system, Givenchy accomplishes all that it needs to by using our modern means of communication to its complete advantage.
The Way We Wore 