Hubert De Givenchy Is DEAD To Me!

[quote]Hubert de Givenchy dies at 91. Your chic, minimalist with a splash of wit approach showed us that less is more when it comes to fashion. Now time to reunite with your BFF Funny Face and have a fabulous Breakfast at Tiffany's.

What a fabulous picture of him.

Jesus he was still alive?

RIP, amazingly talented man

He was ALIVE until last week?

Talk about outliving your relevance...

Who's his widower?

[quote]Talk about outliving your relevance

You say that like it's a bad thing. At least he had a relevance to outlive. What's [italic]your[/italic] relevance to the world, exactly?

I think Bunny Mellon was his biggest cash cow. She went from Balenciaga to him. I always thought of her as more conservative - Dior and St. Laurent.

Edith Head was routinely accused of stealing other people's designs because she did. De Givenchy was the only person who ever sued her successfully over it. At issue were Audrey Hepburn's clothes in Sabrina.

He was goodlooking when he was younger

was he straight?

So young.

[quote] I always thought of her as more conservative - Dior and St. Laurent.

Please explain this R8. As the academics say, “unpack” it.

an amazingly talented and beautiful man.

[quote]What a fabulous picture of him.

He stole my hostess pants!

Love that sexy pic [R2] it's a cute look

R11 He was gay with a partner.

R17 [quote]He was gay with a partner.

AND silk lounge pants.

Did he like silk kimonos too?

I love the colognes 'Givenchy Gentleman' and 'Insensé.

One doesn't say ' de Givenchy", but 'Givenchy'. 'de' is a particule, an indication of nobility . It doesn't take a capital 'D', unlike De niro, which is a name, not a particule. So one says the first name AND part of the name commonly used ' Hubert de Givenchy ' or simply 'Givenchy'. But one says 'monsieur de Givenchy '. His full name, as is the use in most aristocratic french names, combined several particules and names.

Wasn't he very tall - like 6'6"?

He was one designer who HAD a private life. You never read about his having a partner. Did he?

And of course, one must pronounce it guh-VEN-chee.

I remember his work with Lincoln motorcars in America.

I've read it's his partner who announced his death.

What ??? No. Absolutely not. It's jee-van-SHEE

No r23, it's giv-VIN-chee......

No no. It's jee-v'an'-SHEE, like in AN-dré, AN-thony.

I'll never buy Givenchy, I'm rather penny-pinchy and really very Grinchy.

Don't let the Dior hit ya on the ass on yer way out, r28.

Wasn't he associated with someone who was trying to act ?

He was a Huguenot with an interesting family history and ,oh my, such a lovely country house, Chateau de Jonchet.

It's not "jee-," it's ZHEE, like in Zsa Zsa and Gigi.

Yes, that's what I meant jee. Like 'j'i'rai à Paris.like jeez

A pre-assistance Jackie Kennedy in Givenchy at Versailles (1961)

Pronunciation prescriptivists, did you not get the Nomi/Showgirls reference that started all this shit?

Going back to 1982, here's the Lincoln Continental Givenchy Edition...

R37, connaissez-vous R24?

Goodnight, good Sir. Your efforts and contributions have been noted.

Let's not even start on how to pronounce "Hubert."

Everything about him was always chic and now even his manner of death is dignified.

Who bear

[quote] For more than four decades, Mr. Givenchy bridged the American and Parisian fashion worlds, designing effortlessly chic clothes that adorned European royalty and Hollywood stars. He clothed Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Grace Kelly, Lauren Bacall, Elizabeth Taylor and some of the world’s most fashionable women, including first lady Jacqueline Kennedy and the socialites Rachel “Bunny” Mellon and Catherine “Deeda” Blair.

No, R42. "H" is not pronounced in French, and "u" isn't the same sound as in "who". It's more like in "ewww!!!". "Bear" is right though.

We are already having Breakfast at Epiphany.

Class act- talented, dry sense of humor. I met him several times c. 1980. Mrs Mellon loved him although she got pissed one Xmas when she saw his dining room table set with Andre Oliver cable cashmere’s tied on the backs of each chair in W. She had done the same the year before (I sold her the sweaters). She was “angry” at him because of course he had used her idea to sell his style to the fashion world. Both were absolutely lovely, kind, smart and funny people.

R46 Love that story. Bunny Mellon was very good/supportive to Jackie her whole life.

I loved his clothes. Talk about classy. And those two ladies showed it off well.

Wonder how he felt about people like Kim Kardashian being so heavily synonymous with his clothes in the last few years. He couldn't have been happy about that. Not after dressing the people he dressed.

His perfumes are to. Die. For.

I’ve had several of them. I was devastated when they stopped making Absolutely Irresistible.

[quote] I was devastated when they stopped making Absolutely Irresistible.

At that point you became very much resitable.

I know, R50!!!

I still have a tiny vial of it.

R46 Charlie I always love all of your stories! That one was especially good. Any other good Bunny Mellon stories?

Lessee, Mrs Mellon told me she was building a house in Tom Nevershead on Nantucket so I told her she had to check out the Nantucket Looms- the Mellons also had an estate on the Cape. Well she looked at me with mock disdain and said her homes were full of Looms fabrics, Mrs O’s too! I should have known!

R53 thanks Charlie. More stories please.

Bunny's house on Natucket is still there, I think - on 100 acres of prime real estate. Let's hope she donates the whole thing to the Conservation Foundation.

For another day- she spoke quite a bit about the costume jewelry she designed for herself and Mrs O alone- both of them wore the same pieces in different colors- all the time. I think Mrs M was more of a mother to Mrs O than Mrs O real mother.

Who do you think has that quality today? Is there anyone? They don't seem to exist in media, and I can't say I blame them to avoid it. It's not fun out there anymore, and I really wonder who would want to put themselves out there. Not just the ladies who lunch, but the designers. There really aren't any remaining that are inspirational or fun. Almost all of the prestigious design houses have been bought up by conglomerates, and it shows. Do you have anyone you watch?

His later years were spent designing slut-wear for slut celebrities. Sad, really.

Hardly. His last years were spent organizing exhibitions to honor deceased friends in the arts. He was a lovely guy who had a natural sense about living well.

Have not heard peep about him for years. Who knew he was still alive? And I follow fashion. Valentino and Pierre Cardin are still alive.

He dead.

[quote] He dead.

And he has been since 2018, when this thread was created.

I must own 5 or 6 of his perfumes and am simply mad for all of them.

God, they’re delicious.

I regret that one of my favorites was discontinued

Absolutely Irresistible, damn them to hell for taking it away.

A curse on who ever changed the scent of Givenchy Gentleman cologne from the original fragrance.