Givenchy Fall-Winter 2022 Women’s & Men’s Ready-to-Wear Collection

Presented in Paris yesterday night, Givenchy Fall-Winter 2022 Women’s & Men’s Ready-to-Wear Collection reinterpreted the flawless cuts and undiscussed quality of high fashion in casual key for everyone’s enjoyment.

Sewing the gap between the atelier and those whose priority is wearability, this season Givenchy chose to “elevate the extraordinary while making the formal feasible for everyday”. Featuring both his womenswear and menswear lines, Givenchy’s show perfectly channeled creative director Matthew M. Williams’ approach to design, namely a researched combination of utility and fashion extravaganza, immersing the public in an engaging game of contrasts.

“I really wanted to create a synthesis of powerful, sophisticated femininity, with an interplay of multiple American and Parisian influences, sports and craftsmanship,” the creative director said in a statement released ahead of the launch of the new collection. “Next to her stands a contemporary man with an instinct for chic nonchalance,” he continued. “On the runway, both are grounded by a sense of reality.”

Purposefully deprived of any excessive pompousness, tailored femininity took centre stage in yesterday’s live presentation through clean silhouettes again playing around the blending notions of formal and informal. Worn denim was worn with breathtaking sequins and light-capturing pearls in a heartfelt tribute to Hubert de Givenchy’s sense of practical monumentality.

An earthy, versatile selection of rich browns, greens, greys and blacks alternated on the catwalk as the models brought to life gender-transcending loose silhouettes and see-through hand embroidered and disheveled ruffled dresses — all imbued with the same slightly futuristic essence. Classical tailoring and 4D print embroidery gave birth to a new, unexplored fashion dimension where accentuated volumes and textures, reigned free. Wide tailored trousers and oversized overcoats were picked to contrast the shapes of single and double-breasted traditional forms. Leather accessories, be it the legendary Givenchy stretch boots or the New Hobo, 4G, and Kenny bags, added a punk touch to the garments, providing those who wore them with the braveness necessary to face everyday battles.

Drawing on a sophisticated real-life conception of what fashion is meant to be, and who this is supposed to serve, Givenchy’s Fall-Winter 2022 Women’s & Men’s Ready-to-Wear Collection proved how embracing a more popular view of haute couture can elevate everyone’s experience of a traditionally inaccessible world to those of front-row fashion victims.