This season’s men’s collection from French house Givenchy examines the relationship between a new culture of masculine dressing and the codes of the classic gentleman’s wardrobe.
With inspiration taken from the age-old desire to customise the classic boys’ school uniform, Artistic Director Matthew M. Williams draws on his own experience to present crested knits, sweatshirts and polos shrunken, scoop-necked or cropped at the hip, framed by formidable overcoats. Outlining a new formality, schoolboy suits are worn under tech jackets created with heightened savoir-faire, from archival floral embroideries to hand-encrusted crystals and a yellow and black construction crafted entirely in super-light calfskin.
Wardrobe essentials are elevated with luxury techniques and fabrics, adorned with gems or hardware. Men’s style tropes, such as the trench, the mac and the blouson, are hand-made in double-face cotton. Garment Dyed, crinkled tracksuits, military smocks and field jackets have undergone state-of-the-art fabric treatments and denim manifests in a new take on the regular-fit jean and in hacked-off shorts.
Tuxedos in lurex or brushed wool reflect an idea of realistic proportion, neither oversized nor sculpted.
And a series of hand-made suits is expressed in double-breasted, silk-wool blazers with magnet closures, sculpted square shoulders and eliminated back seams.
Worn around the waist, technical bags in suede, nylon and webbing reinforce a real and functional approach to elegance while backpacks come in mixed tech materials and scuffed suedes. A lightweight sneaker in nylon and corduroy transforms the language of hiking shoes into an elegant shape and fuses the constructions of sneakers and dress shoes.