Published on the occasion of the first major retrospective of the work of the great French fashion designer, this volume celebrates a key twentieth-century creator and a living legend in the history of haute couture. The exhibition, devised by Hubert de Givenchy himself and curated by Eloy Martínez de la Pera, provides an exceptional survey of the couturier's creations over nearly half a century, from the opening of the Maison Givenchy in Paris in 1952 to his professional retirement in 1995. A hundred or so of his finest pieces selected from museums and private collections all over the world, many of them never previously shown, establish a dialogue in the Museum's galleries with a group of works belonging to the Thyssen-Bornemisza collections.
Hubert de Givenchy (born 1927) was born to an aristocratic family in Beauvais, France. After completing his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts, Givenchy worked for several fashion designers, including the avant-garde Elsa Schiaparelli. In 1952 he opened his own fashion house, his style markedly innovative compared to the conservatism of his contemporaries. He was, at age 25, the youngest couturier of the Parisian fashion scene. Thanks to his elegant, feminine designs, the Givenchy brand soon became synonymous with Parisian chic, and the designer is known for dressing celebrity icons such as Jacqueline Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly.
