We've been waiting for the sparks to fly on one spring runway, and we got our smouldering fix at Givenchy. Riccardo Tisci zeroed in on the sex-pot contingency of his clientele, suiting his woman up in skin-tight pants (take your pick: stretch wool, dark denim or buttery black leather), covering up her legs with vice-like, over the knee boots and lacing her chest up with velvet ties until her cleavage heaved like an Austrian milkmaid. The interesting thing here, however, is that the overall takeaway from this intriguing collection wasn't aggressive or vulgar at all. Tisci worked strong romantic vowels into his vixen vocabulary, throwing in slashed poet sleeved blouses, softly tiered boho dresses and medieval-like jewelled choker necklaces to temper the saucy extras. This highly constructed, sexy look is light years away from the slick sportswear, relaxed-vibe that most designers are currently channeling in womenswear. But Tisci is a fashion leader who knows more about what we'll all want in six months than we do. And what saves this designer in particular from veering into tramp territory is his extraordinary workmanship. In addition to bead-crusted white lace dresses, the patchwork coats that were sewn up with silver studs and laced together with metal loops were nothing short of extraordinary.
Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans
