Riccardo Tisci, creative director at Givenchy, confirmed in an exclusive to WWD that he will be leaving the French design house, effective on Jan. 31.
Tisci spent 12 years as head of Givenchy, and is responsible for helping to create some of the most memorable looks on loyal stars like Beyonce — who has worn Tisci’s designs to the last five Met Gala events — and Kim Kardashian — who wore a couture Givenchy gown for her 2015 wedding to Kanye West.
The designer’s last collection for Givenchy was the fall-winter 2017 men’s and couture shows, and his designs will likely appear on celebrities through the American awards season. Though still unconfirmed, insiders speculate that Tisci will head to Versace, where he has a close relationship with the Italian design house’s creative head, Donatella.
Tisci’s tenure at Givenchy has been monumental. He injected colossal star power into the brand, leveraging the power of celebrity culture to sell clothes — much like how Anna Wintour bolsters Vogue sales when she put household names on the magazine’s covers.
Most recently, Tisci created buzz around Givenchy by including Naomi Campbell in a topless ad and dressed Meryl Streep at the Golden Globes, where Streep made headlines for a politically-charged speech.
Tisci’s departure adds another churn to the revolving door of designers leaving houses where they’ve made themselves known even to those who aren’t fashion insiders. In the last year alone: Raf Simons left Christian Dior; Hedi Slimane left Saint Laurent; Anthony Vaccarello left Versace; Alexander Wang left Balenciaga.
While some designers stay with only stay with a brand for a few years, others like Tisci at Givenchy, stay for what feels like a lifetime.
