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Madrid museum honours Hepburn’s style guru

Madrid's Thyssen Museum opens on Wednesday the first major retrospective of designs by French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy, who worked for such famous clients as Audrey Hepburn and Jacqueline Kennedy.

Published: 21 October 2014 12:43 CEST

Madrid museum honours Hepburn's style guru

Hubert de Givenchy, who retired in 1995, was behind many of the designs worn by Audrey Hepburn in her best known films and was a lifelong friend. Photo: AFP

The exhibition, curated by the 87-year-old designer himself, features about 100 of his finest pieces selected from museums and private collections around the world from a career spanning nearly five decades.

"Given my age, I hesitated. But I have great affection for Spain. I did not have the right to turn down such an extraordinary offer," he told journalists at the presentation of the retrospective.

The exhibition focuses on creations made for his main clients and they are shown alongside art works from different periods and styles from the museum's collection to highlight the links between fashion and art.

"He is one of the last great masters of haute couture," the museum's artistic director, Guillermo Solano, said.

Among the designs on display is a black satin sheath evening dress designed by Givenchy in 1961 for Hepburn in the film "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and a black lace cocktail dress and jacket used by the actress in the film "How to Steal a Million" five years later.

Givenchy, who retired in 1995, was behind many of the designs worn by Hepburn in her best known films and was a lifelong friend.

"Audrey was an exceptional being. She was really the person who was closest to me," he said before praising the late British actress's "elegance, generosity, beauty and immense talent".

"For me this trade was continual bliss. It was magic," he added. "I think haute couture has arrived at the end. The last great designer who did wonders, Yves Saint-Laurent, ended the era."

Saint-Laurent, a French fashion designer regarded as one of the greatest names in fashion history, died in 2008.

The retrospective runs until January 18, 2015.

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French Vogue celebrates 100 years

French Vogue celebrates 100 years. Photo: Thomas Olva/AFP

But as well as celebrating the magazine’s storied history, the exhibit comes at a time of turbulence for the publication.

Just last month, it was confirmed that its editor of 10 years, Emmanuelle Alt, was out and wouldn’t be replaced.

She was not alone.

Looking to cut costs, owner Conde Nast International has axed editors across Europe over the past year, and put international Vogue editions under the direct control of global editorial director, Anna Wintour, in New York.

New York-based Anna Wintour now has overall control of French Vogue. Photo by Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP

Like much of the media industry, Vogue is struggling with tumbling sales and ad revenue in the digital era.

But the latest twist is also part of the endless push and pull between New York and Paris going back to its early days.

“The whole history of French Vogue is one of back-and-forth with Conde Nast in New York – growing more independent for a while, then being reined back in,” said Sylvie Lecallier, curator of the new exhibition, “Vogue Paris 1920-2020″, which opened this weekend after a year’s delay due to the pandemic.

The Paris edition was often the loftier, more bohemian sibling to its more hard-nosed New York version.

But it was also the hotbed in which much of 20th century style and womenhood came to be defined.

“Paris was the place to hunt out talent and content and bring it to New York,” said Lecallier.

The exhibition charts the evolution from art deco drawings of the 1920s through the erotic image-making of photographers like Helmut Newton in the 1960s and 1970s.

Its last peak was under editor Carine Roitfeld in the 2000s, who brought back a provocative Gallic identity by ridding the newsroom of foreign staff and becoming a fashion icon in her own right.

Her successor, Alt, was a quieter presence, though she still oversaw key moments including its first transgender cover star, Brazilian Valentina Sampaio, in 2017.

But internet culture has created “a perfect storm” for Vogue, says media expert Douglas McCabe of Enders Analysis.

“The first 80 years of Vogue’s life, it had the market to itself, it was the bible for fashion,” McCabe told AFP.

“But online today, there are so many other ways to get your information. Influencers, Instagram, YouTube — everyone’s a threat.”

In a world where new fashion trends can blow up around the world in seconds, it has become much harder for a monthly magazine to set the pace.

“It’s not that they can’t survive for another 100 years — but they will be differently sized,” McCabe said.

Vogue has tried to branch out into different areas, including events.

“I used to work for a magazine, and today I work for a brand,” Alt said on the eve of French Vogue’s 1,000th issue in 2019.

But the big money was always in print, and Vogue Paris sales are dropping steadily from 98,345 in 2017 to 81,962 to 2020, according to data site ACPM.

It is perhaps unsurprising that the new top job in Paris, redefined as “head of editorial content”, went to Eugenie Trochu, who was key to building the magazine’s online presence.

She declared herself “thrilled to be part of Vogue’s international transformation”.

For the curator of the exhibition, it is ironic timing.

“We had no idea it would end like this when we started work on the exhibition,” said Lecallier.

“Who knows where it will go from here.”

The exhibition Vogue Paris 1920-2020 is at the Palais Galliera in Paris’ 16th arrondissement. The gallery is open 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Sunday and is closed on Mondays. Tickets for the exhibition are €14 (€12 for concessions and under 18s go free) and must be reserved online in advance.

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