The show signified a new direction for Matthew M Williams
The winds of change that blew over the Givenchy runway on the Sunday night of shows in Paris were preceded by a biblical rain shower. Minutes before the show – set under open skies in the Jardin des Plantes – was set to begin, it stopped, the heavens cleared and the sun came out. It was an appropriately dramatic path-clearing for a collection that signified a new clarification for Matthew M Williams. While he stayed true to his fusion of the elegant Parisian heritage of Givenchy and the American workwear he grew up with in California, the execution felt radically more focused. “I wanted to communicate this interaction with a new clarity and strip the final expression of any complexities,” he concurred.
It was a cultural exchange
As an American designer in a French house, Williams is interested in the cultural style exchange that’s historically taken place between these two urban dressing mentalities. More than ever, this collection illuminated that symbiosis – starting with distilling each wardrobe into uncomplicated garments. The American part, he could do with his eyes closed: perfectos, bombers, trucker and denim jackets, and cargo trousers and shorts ripe for the generational taking. For the French part, he delved into Hubert de Givenchy’s archives and detected the codes of the Maison’s heritage most straightforwardly adaptable to a contemporary idea of chic. Then, he worked them into dresses, blouses, skirts and box jackets that integrated naturally with the workwear.
It stayed true to the Givenchy heritage
“Everything begins with Hubert,” Williams said. “I looked at his archives with my adopted Parisian eye, but also with my instinctive American eye. Through his work for Audrey Hepburn, Hubert introduced my country to a certain Parisian sophistication that influenced our own view of elegance – the same way American music culture now inspires the wardrobes of the French youth. The cultural exchange reflected in this collection has been a long time in the making.” Case in point: Givenchy’s culturally universal little black dress – one of the most worn garments on the planet – which Williams ruched and elongated and sportified in a variety of interpretations that made it seductive to a young clientele.
The audience reflected the message
In the audience, Kanye West was flanked by Carine Roitfeld: the personified image of the dual audience Williams designs for; one the king of so-called streetwear (or “lifewear” as Virgil Abloh perhaps more appropriately named it), the other the contemporary custodian of sophisticated, sensual Parisian chic. “In creating the collection, I wanted each silhouette to embody the exchange between traditionally French and American ways of dressing in the urban environment. It’s a study of the elements we associate with ‘Parisian chic’ and ‘Californian cool’, and how those contrasts have integrated in the digital borderless world,” Williams said.
It came with new accessories
Accessories have played a significant factor in Williams’s work for Givenchy, and with his change of direction came new takes on bags, shoes and jewellery – new as well as the familiar. The collection featured new laced knee-high boots, mules and ballerinas and a new bag, the Voyou, an American biker’s take on a Parisian ladies’ handbag. Looks were embellished with jewellery in clear resin, pearls and pavé beads – imbuing classic codes of chic with a certain raw attitude – while a new sunglass design wrapped around the face of models like those known from sports. Juxtaposed with zipped opera gloves, Williams retained a constant balance between the inherent elegance of Givenchy and the industrial values of his own American design practice.
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