Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy (French: [ybɛʁ də ʒivɑ̃ʃi]; 20 February 1927 – 10 March 2018) was a French fashion designer who founded the luxury fashion and perfume house of Givenchy in 1952. He is famous for having designed much of the personal and professional wardrobe of Audrey Hepburn and clothing for Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. He was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1970.
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Early life
Hubert James Taffin de Givenchy was born on 20 February 1927 in Beauvais, Oise, into a Protestant noble family. He was the younger son of Lucien Taffin de Givenchy, Marquis of Givenchy (1888–1930), and his wife, the former Béatrice ("Sissi") Badin (1888–1976). The Taffin family was ennobled in 1713, at which time the head of the family became Marquis of Givenchy. His elder brother, Jean-Claude de Givenchy (1925–2009), inherited the family's courtesy title of marquis and eventually became the president of Parfums Givenchy. A third sibling, Beatrice, was born in 1928 but died shortly after birth.
After his father's death from influenza in 1930, he was raised by his mother and maternal grandmother, Marguerite Badin (1853–1940, née Dieterle), the widow of Jules Badin (1843–1919), an artist who was the owner and director of the historic Gobelins Manufactory and Beauvais tapestry factories. Artistic professions ran in the extended Badin family. Givenchy's maternal great-grandfather, Jules Dieterle, was a set designer who also created designs for the Beauvais factory, including a set of 13 designs for the Elysée Palace. One of his great-great-grandfathers designed sets for the Paris Opera.
He moved to Paris at the age of 17, and he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts. He stood 6'6" tall.
Career
Givenchy's first designs were done for Jacques Fath in 1945. Later he did designs for Robert Piguet and Lucien Lelong (1946) – working alongside the still-unknown Pierre Balmain and Christian Dior. From 1947 to 1951 he worked for the avantgarde designer Elsa Schiaparelli.
In 1952, he opened his own design house at the Plaine Monceau in Paris, concentrating on versatile separates, especially deep-sleeved white blouses and scarves in shirting cotton, with leather tops and high-waisted wool skirts also receiving raves. Later, he named his first collection "Bettina Graziani" for Paris's top model at the time, who had provided indispensable support and publicity for him. His style was marked by innovation, 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 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 first met in 1953 during the shoot of Sabrina. He went on to design the black dress she wore in Breakfast at Tiffany's. He also developed his first perfume collection for her (L'Interdit and Le de Givenchy). Hepburn was the face of that fragrance. This was the first time a star was the face of a fragrance's advertising campaign.
At that time, he met his idol, Cristóbal Balenciaga. Givenchy sought inspiration not only from the lofty settings of haute couture but also in such avant-garde environments as Limbo, the store in Manhattan's East Village.
Givenchy's notable clients also included Donna Marella Agnelli, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Countess Mona von Bismarck, Countess Cristiana Brandolini d'Adda, Sunny von Bülow, Renata Tebaldi, Maria Callas, Capucine, Marlene Dietrich, Daisy Fellowes, Greta Garbo, Gloria Guinness, Dolores Guinness, Aimee de Heeren, Jane Holzer, Grace Kelly, Princess Salimah Aga Khan, Rachel Lambert Mellon, Sophia Loren, Jeanne Moreau, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Empress Farah Pahlavi, Babe Paley, Lee Radziwill, Hope Portocarrero, Comtesse Jacqueline de Ribes, Nona Hendryx, Baroness Pauline de Rothschild, Frederica von Stade, Baroness Gaby Van Zuylen van Nijevelt, Diana Vreeland, Betsey Whitney, Baroness Sylvia de Waldner, the Duchess of Windsor, Haitian first lady Michèle Duvalier and Jayne Wrightsman.
Later life
Givenchy retired from fashion design in 1995.
Givenchy resided at the Château du Jonchet, a listed historic castle in Romilly-sur-Aigre, Eure-et-Loir, near Paris. In his retirement, he focused on collecting 17th and 18th-century bronze and marble sculptures. In July 2010, he spoke at the Oxford Union. From 8 to 14 September 2014, during the Biennale des Antiquaires, he organized a private sale exhibition at Christie's in Paris featuring, artwork by Jean-Baptiste-Claude Odiot, the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, Jacques-Louis David, and Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson, etc.
In January 2007, the French Post Office issued postage stamps for Valentine's Day designed by Givenchy. In October 2014, a retrospective exhibition featuring ninety-five of his designed pieces took place at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, Spain.
His longtime partner was fashion designer Philippe Venet.
Hubert de Givenchy died in his sleep at the Renaissance chateau near Paris on Saturday 10 March 2018. He was 91 and was buried in Passy Cemetery in Paris.
Pioneer for Black models in haute couture
Five Black American women comprised Givenchy's house models in the late '70s. It was the first time a couture house explicitly asserted that Glamour was not reserved for a white elite. With the exception of Sophie Malgat, Givenchy's house models were exclusively Black.
One of the models, Sandi Bass, stated that after her first season at Givenchy, nearly every designer dreamed of featuring a beautiful Black model on the runway. "It was a frenzy, and we were in demand in Paris, Milan and Rome during show season."
"Mr. Givenchy was a pioneer in making this phenomenon extraordinary in the world of fashion in Paris. And there was no focus about diversity. The reason these girls were chosen was because [of] their attitude, there was a different attitude and energy in those personalities."
— André Leon Talley, Women's Wear Daily, 1979