Givenchy - A Brand History

Recently I've been asked by a few followers about specific brands and I thought, oh, that'd make a good blog series! So here's the first entry!

Givenchy

I'm relatively new to finding this vintage brand myself, but lately it's popped up at several estate sales I've been to. I purchased two items with the Givenchy brand in the last month and they couldn't be more different! The first was a brooch the other - a pair of pantyhose! So I was curious about a brand who could create such different items for distribution and here's what I discovered.

Givenchy is a French brand and it's still in existence today. It was started in the 1950s by Hubert de Givenchy, just as the couture scene in Paris was really taking off. Givenchy was a clothing designer who studied under famous designers like Jacques Fath and Lucian Lelong. He's given credit as the first designer to come up with a luxury ready to wear line in 1954 and is most famously known for his 40-year long relationship in fashion with Audrey Hepburn, who was his muse. He also designed for Lauren Bacall and Jackie Kennedy. In the late 1960s and early 70s he realized that his brand had value and he began to apply it to other products like jewelry, linens and shoes. It's likely that the brooch I picked up is from the late 1960s to early 70s when this branding rush was happening.

In 1988 he joined in with the Louis Vuitton company, but still producing under his own brand. The pair of pantyhose I picked up are from the early 90s, right before Hubert's retirement in 1995. The company is still run today under the guidance of designer Riccardo Tisci.

I think it's amazing to see the gamut of more than 40 years in the fashion industry from a singular brand perspective!