Hubert de Givenchy, the aristocratic French fashion designer whose understated style represented a golden age of elegance, has died aged 91, reports The Guardian.
Givenchy dressed Audrey Hepburn and Jackie Kennedy and is famous for his take on the “little black dress”. He died on Saturday at the Renaissance chateau near Paris that he shared with his partner and fellow designer, Philippe Venet.
At 6ft 6in tall, Givenchy was a giant of haute couture in every sense. Not only did he physically tower over his peers but his designs were considered by many to be way over the heads of his rivals in their elegance and sophistication.
He created on- and off-screen wardrobes for Hepburn for films including Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Funny Face. His enduring muse and client, Hepburn inspired Givenchy’s first perfume, L’Interdit, and is credited with the designer’s subsequent success and popularity in the US.
“Givenchy’s clothes are the only ones in which I feel myself. He is more than a designer, he is a creator of personality,” Hepburn said.
Givenchy, who learned his trade from another fashion master, Cristóbal Balenciaga, produced restrained designs of what admirers called an “extreme elegance” that became his trademark. His creations were eagerly awaited and sought out by the titled and wealthy in the 1950s and 60s, including Princess Grace of Monaco and Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor.
Madame Figaro magazine described his clothes as being made with an almost “surgical precision … not too much, not too little”.
Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy, to give his full name, was born in 1927 in Beauvais, north of Paris, to an old aristocratic Protestant family. His father died when he was aged two.
The young Givenchy was fascinated by his grandfather’s collection of cloths and clothes from around the world, treasures he was only allowed to view if he did well at school. Developing an interest in fashion, he became obsessed with the idea of meeting the haute couturier he admired above all, Balenciaga.