Hubert de Givenchy: Raw Cotton Separates, Audrey Hepburn and Ready-to-Wear

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Hubert de Givenchy opened his couture house in Paris in 1952 at age 24 with Les Séparables, a collection made from raw cotton shirting, the cheap fabric designers used for test patterns. Its Bettina blouse, named for muse Bettina Graziani, became a sensation, painted by illustrator René Gruau, and The New York Times Magazine headlined a review A Star is Born. In 1953 he was told Miss Hepburn was coming for a film wardrobe and expected Katharine Hepburn, but Audrey Hepburn arrived in gingham pants, a T-shirt and a gondolier hat. Too busy to design from scratch, he let her try prototypes for Sabrina, beginning a partnership through Funny Face, Love in the Afternoon and Breakfast at Tiffany's in 1961.

Givenchy dressed Greta Garbo, Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Bacall, Marlene Dietrich and Wallis Simpson. He introduced the shirt dress in 1954, which became the sack dress of 1957, and he became the first couturier to launch a luxury ready-to-wear line, Givenchy Université, using machinery imported from the United States. Gentleman Givenchy followed in 1969, then licenses from tableware to kimonos, Hilton hotel interiors and a Continental Mark V edition. LVMH bought the house in 1988 and he left in 1995. Successors included John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Julien Macdonald, Riccardo Tisci, Clare Waight Keller, Matthew Williams and, from late 2024, Sarah Burton.

• Wallis Simpson's orders were hidden in special garment bags so other clients could not see them, a line known as Blue Wallis.
• Cristóbal Balenciaga advised Givenchy to pursue licensing to fund his costly couture collections.
• In 1982 the Fashion Institute of Technology held a Givenchy retrospective presided over by Audrey Hepburn.
• Clare Waight Keller, the house's first female artistic director, designed Meghan Markle's 2018 wedding dress.
• Editor Carine Roitfeld said she could no longer identify the Givenchy woman during Matthew Williams's streetwear era.