Fashion: Lessons in Elegance from Hubert de Givenchy

I just returned from a brief holiday and was catching up on the events of the past week when I read with dismay of the verbal sparring between Azzedine Alaia and Oscar de la Renta, two designers I admire and whose clothing I proudly wear. The tiff reported in WWD reportedly came about after de la Renta's remark questionning the appropriateness of Michelle Obama's attire when she attended a reception at Buckingham Palace during the recent G20 summit in London. The whole spat seems genuinely silly to me and it made me wonder why someone as revered as Alaia would even bother getting involved in something so trivial.

As far as critiques go, de la Renta's struck me as fairly innocuous. The proliferation of television shows and blogs dedicated to armchair fashion criticism has had the effect of replacing actual analysis by scathing vitriol, much of it laced with a generous dose of misogyny thrown in for good measure. With few exceptions, most of these television shows and Internet sites are nothing more than forums for bitchiness. Viewed against this backdrop, de la Renta's remarks barely register. Moreover, he made a perfectly valid point. Part of Mrs. Obama's role as 'First Lady' is to represent her country abroad in the best light possible. This includes respecting the decorum that governs a gathering of heads of state, especially one taking place at Buckingham Palace where even the minutiae of daily life is carefully regulated by protocol. Perhaps the whole brouhaha is more symptomatic of the fact that to Mrs. Obama's fans, anything short of gushing praise is considered an act of lèse-majesté.

Of course, spats between designers dueling for the spotlight are nothing new. Coco Chanel was known for her sometimes vicious digs at Elsa Schiaparelli whom she condescendingly referred to as l'Italienne and Valentina Schlee reportedly never passed up an opportunity to deliver a zinger or two. Karl Lagerfeld's verbal assaults on fellow members of the industry could conceivably fill an entire book (his long simmering feud with Yves Saint Laurent actually did). And who could forget Valentino Garavani's public hissy fit which preceded the unceremonious dismissal of his replacement, Allessandra Fachinetti.

The very least one can say about all this is that fashion attracts (or breeds) one remarkably bitchy crowd. This is precisely why someone like Hubert de Givenchy stands in stark contrast to the rest. To my knowledge, Givenchy never publicly spoke ill of his contemporaries, never revealed embarrassing details about his illustrious clients and was known throughout the industry as a perfect gentleman. Moreover, his conduct in the events leading up to the transfer of his business to LVMH and throughout his retirement soon after remains a model of graciousness and impeccable professionalism. Why can't the rest of the industry follow his graceful lead?

Sincerely,

The Luxe Chronicles

Comments

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[Lennon]

Great article

[Helene]

That's a very valid point willowblue - fashion feuds are nothing if not entertaining. It still makes me long for Givenchy-style decorum though.

Helene

[willowblue]

Isn't the feuding, handbags-at-dawn thing, etc, all part of fashion's myth-making machine?
As the writer Jan Morris noted, there are thousands of Saint Laurents toiling in ateliers. Talent goes a long way, but image and buzz are all in the business.
So AA plays the catty diva. He gets the buzz ($$$ doesn't buy)at Oscar's expense but O will survive the hissy fit. In or out, is a matter of taste.
Fashion has a wider margin of subjectivity than most and that gap is populated with opinionated people.
Twiggy said that Liz Smith from The Times once told her that she would nvr make it as a model. After she became a global icon, Lady Smith told her: Well, I wasn't wrong, wasn't I?
Gentlemen and ladies are always in fashion.