The French fashion house’s collection hybridises the cosmopolitan wardrobes of France and America, both permeated by the legacy of the brand’s founder.

“This collection is an investigation into the dress codes that tie us together across mentalities and continents,” Matthew M Williams, Creative Director of Givenchy says regarding the brand’s SS23 ready-to-wear women’s collection. Founder, Hubert de Givenchy, and his work with Audrey Hepburn acquainted Americans with the core of Parisian elegance in years gone by, whilst American music culture has modulated the dress senses of French youth throughout modern eras – a symbiotic, cross-continental relationship on full display in American-hailing Williams’ show. “Everything begins with Hubert,” he explains. “I looked at his archives with my adopted Parisian eye, but also with my instinctive American eye.”

Showcased at Paris’ Jardin Des Plantes, the site of cross-pollination of botanical discoveries from around the world since the 1600s, the collection similarly transplants stateside dress codes into a French modus operandi, giving way to a crescendo of international synthesis, mirroring the global nature of style in today’s digital world. Whilst precipitation would usually be a welcome sight at the botanical garden, the intermittent showers over the Paris Fashion Week show were less welcome, but nothing could put a stop to proceedings as the likes of Bella Hadid took to the catwalk.

Williams…