September 8, 2025 |
As debuts go, Sarah Burton’s inaugural Givenchy collection was a stunner. From the very first look, Burton’s mastery of cut and her total control of line and proportion were evident.
She stripped it back and built it up in one fluid movement, starting with a mesh catsuit printed with the date of Mr Hubert de Givenchy’s debut couture show in 1952 in a typeface taken from an original Stockman dummy. The look was simple but telegraphed that Burton’s Givenchy would be about the femininity of the body.
“I want to address everything about modern women. Strength, vulnerability, emotional intelligence, feeling powerful or very sexy. All of it,” she said. “It’s my natural instinct to go back to pattern-cutting, to craftsmanship. To cut, shape and proportion. It’s what I feel, how I work and what I want to do.” The tailoring was superlative. Impeccable hourglass coats and jackets, some worn as minidresses, some worn backwards. Nothing looked ordinary. Herringbone trouser suits came with ombré dipped hems. She also breathed a modernity into the red carpet. Floral embroideries blossomed on an ice-white column dress, while lashings of yellow and white tulle were directed into striking architectural geometries.
Yes, there were archive references. Mr Givenchy loved bows and ties and nipped-in Fifties waists, but this collection never laboured under the weight of nostalgia. Burton was too present for that.
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BY SARAH BURTON: THE DEBUT
Photographer STEFANO GALUZZI
Fashion Editor SOPHIA NEOPHITOU
Text CLAUDIA CROFT
Model EDUARDA MUEHLMANN at PRM Agency
Hair MASSIMO DI STEFANO using BUMBLE AND BUMBLE
Make-up ANDREW GALLIMORE using GIVENCHY Beauty Prisme Libre Glow Serum Foundation
Manicurist HAYLEY EVANS-SMITH at Saint Luke Artists using ESSIE
Digital operator SHEHAN HEWA MALLIKAGE at Walter Schupfer Management
Photographer’s assistant JOSHUA ONABOWU
Fashion assistants GEORGIA EDWARDS, SAYWA AKAKANDELWA and TOMMY DOWLING
Hair assistant SIMON MCANDREW
Production ZAC APOSTOLOU and SONYA MAZURYK
Casting SIX WOLVES
Location CHELSEA PHYSIC GARDEN
