Givenchy is a French luxury fashion and perfume house. It hosts the brand of haute couture and ready-to-wear clothing, accessories, perfumes and cosmetics of Parfums Givenchy. The house of Givenchy was founded in 1952 by designer Hubert de Givenchy and is a member of Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture et du Prêt-à-Porter. It is currently owned by luxury conglomerate LVMH.
Givenchy short dress and hat worn by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's
Winter 1990s evening dress by Givenchy
1988 evening dress by Givenchy
Haute couture is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design. The term haute couture is French, "haute" meaning "high" or "elegant," and "couture" translating to "sewing" or "dressmaking." The term haute couture generally refers to a specific type of upper garment common in Europe during the 16th to the 18th century, or to the upper portion of a modern dress to distinguish it from the skirt and sleeves. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became the centre of a growing industry that focused on making outfits from high-quality, expensive, often unusual fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable of sewers—often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques. Couture translates literally from French as "dressmaking", sewing, or needlework and is also used as a common abbreviation of haute couture and can often refer to the same thing in spirit.
Pierre Balmain adjusting a dress on model Ruth Ford in 1947 (photographed by Carl Van Vechten)
The annual Met Gala, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and organized by Vogue high-fashion magazine, hosts the largest haute couture fashion night annually.
Haute couture fashion models walk the runway during New York Fashion Week.
Chanel Haute Couture Fall-Winter 2011–2012 Fashion Show by Karl Lagerfeld