Introducing Givenchy Atelier: A New Capsule Collection of Elevated Essentials Made With a Couture Sensibility

Timelessness has been a big talking point in fashion over the last few weeks. Investment pieces, wardrobe staples, and refined classics were buzzed about, too. Many of the top Spring 2020 collections earned their spots on our lists because they offered elegant clothes meant to last a lifetime. One way designers went about this was to add touches of couture and craft to standard suiting, shirting, and dresses. At Givenchy, Clare Waight Keller paired denim with crisp blazers and button-downs, and constructed voluminous silhouettes from easy, everyday fabrics. Now, Waight Keller is taking this idea a step further and introducing a new capsule collection for the 67-year-old French fashion house.

Called Givenchy Atelier, the men’s and women’s line of separates, bags, and shoes is a mash-up of Givenchy’s couture codes and that of its ready-to-wear. Think, expert tailoring, lace, embellishment, and embroidery on hoodies, T-shirts, and dresses, as well as crisp, clean shirting and trousers. A nylon backpack is decorated with a sculptural bow, and patent leather boots are punctuated by a silver chain. There is also an elegant column gown in black velvet and a body-con cocktail dress. “It’s a distillation, in a way, of a lot of the silhouettes and codes I’ve been working on during the last couple of years at Givenchy,” Waight Keller says. “Not only is this the case with the black and white palette, which is very much a house code, but also the tailoring, the lace, the more couture-inspired volumes.”

The collection officially debuts on Tuesday, October 8, and will be available at Bergdorf Goodman and the Givenchy flagship on Madison Avenue in New York. For Waight Keller, Givenchy Atelier is a way in which she can marry her own vision with that of the storied fashion house and its founder Hubert de Givenchy, perhaps bringing the brand into a new light for current fans and those she’s yet to reach. The price point is slightly lower than that of the ready-to-wear line, but not by much. The idea isn’t to create a secondary label, but to underscore the timelessness (there it is again) of the fashion house and its DNA, and to create a collection of true essentials. As Waight Keller says, “This felt like an interesting way to solidify a message about what the Givenchy codes are.”