The Parisian legend of Givenchy has come together with an urban American aesthetic to show off a collection that celebrates a look that goes beyond the beaten track.
To develop the brand’s latest collection, the brand’s Designer Matthew Williams collaborated with the Seattle-born and Mexico-based graffiti artist Chito in order to show off a fresh interpretation of American and Parisian styles. The looks on the runway captured the emotion of a different 90s youth culture found on both sides of the ocean — one of the urban world, with a chic look that could have been seen on anyone cool walking the city streets, or hanging on the edges around roadways or rail yards. And now this collection brings the look into the modern world by perfectly coupling dark tones, shoulder harnesses, graffitied graphics, and robust combat-style boots with currently on-trend details such as cutouts and sleek asymmetry.
As the iconic brand’s latest collection also features dresses, accessories and separates dripping in chains and jewels adorned the runway with a different style of gleam, with ruby red ear climbers and caps with the brims edged off adding further elements of style. The dark shades of the fabrics were also intercepted with a variety of textures, silhouettes and cuts, to add further innovative variety to the collection.
The signature dog and clown faces of Chito’s graffiti art pop up from the pieces, contrasting with the sharp black shades of the garments were showcased on a runway fittingly set up in the Parisian railyards.
Williams said he wanted to capture the connections between two of the most famous cities in the work.
“It’s that idea of a journey to Paris from New York,” he told Women’s Wear Daily. He added, “I loved this idea of the airbrush graphics being like the artwork that would be on the trains,” he continued. “A lot of people also don’t realize necessarily that the Statue of Liberty is here, and its connection to France. That’s something I always wanted to do since I moved here — to do a show at the Statue of Liberty — and this was a great opportunity to do so.”
Words By Victoria Arrington
