1927

Hubert James Taffin de Givenchy is born in Beauvais, France.

1945

Aged seventeen, inspired by his mother’s glossies, prompted by his seamstress cousins and brimming with youthful exuberance, Hubert de Givenchy leaves Beauvais for Paris. He begins his apprenticeship as a draughtsman for the couturier Jacques Fath.

1946

Hubert de Givenchy is recommended by the celebrated surrealist illustrator Christian Bérard for a design post at Robert Piguet.

1947  

Word-of-mouth about the dashing young man at Piguet spreads like wildfire in the hermetic world of Parisian haute couture, and it isn’t long before Hubert de Givenchy leaves Piguet for Lucien Lelong, upon the recommendation of the newly-acquainted Christian Dior. Six months later, illustrator René Gruau puts a word in for Givenchy at Elsa Schiaparelli, where the young man becomes the couturiere’s first assistant and the director of her celebrated Place Vendôme boutique.

1951  

After four years of collaboration, Hubert de Givenchy resigns from Schiaparelli, intent on opening his own couture house. The somewhat overbearing couturiere thunderously dismisses him as yet another bankruptcy.

1952

Hubert de Givenchy opens his own maison at n° 8, rue Alfred de Vigny, overlooking Paris’s Parc Monceau. On February 2nd, he presents his first couture collection, featuring the now famous ‘Bettina’ blouse as a nod to his newly appointed press relations director, the celebrated fifties beauty Bettina Graziani. The collection’s revolutionary concept of ‘separates’- lightweight skirts and billowing blouses- was unheard of in the tightly corseted and heavily embroidered world of haute couture at the time. The couturier’s use of ‘shirting’- a coarse cotton akin to the toile used for fittings – further heralded the casual chic that would come to define the second half of the century. Life magazine features a Givenchy look on its cover. Clients file into the couturier’s gothic salons, which becomes known as ‘the Cathedral’. Early-day supermodels- Suzy Parker, Ivy Nicholson, Capucine- squabble to feature in his shows.

1953  

Two decisive encounters:
• Cristóbal Balenciaga, introduced to Hubert de Givenchy at a Condé Nast cocktail in New York. The legendary Spanish couturier praises Givenchy’s organdie scarf pricked with springs of lily of the valley for its youth and freshness. Hubert de Givenchy becomes the charismatic- if not overly sociable- couturier’s closest friend and most long-standing protégé ('my adopted son' Balenciaga would say) until Balenciaga’s death in 1972.

• Audrey Hepburn, who flew to Paris for a last minute makeover, her Edith Head-designed wardrobe for Sabrina having failed to please director Billy Wilder. Having been announced a certain 'miss Hepburn', Hubert de Givenchy expects the movie’s lead, Katharine Hepburn, at the fitting. Instead, the as yet unknown British actress saunters in wearing black leggings, a knotted T-shirt, flat sandals and a gondolier’s hat, only to swan out with the entirety of Givenchy’s samples for his upcoming presentation. Clean lines, gamine features and long, gracile limbs: the ingénue of the sixties was born at Givenchy. Hepburn wears Givenchy in Sabrina (dir: Billy Wilder; 1954), Love in the Afternoon (dir: Billy Wilder; 1957), Funny Face (dir: Stanley Donen; 1957), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (dir: Blake Edwards; 1961), Charade (dir: Stanley Donen; 1963), Paris when it Sizzles (dir: Richard Quine; 1963), How to Steal a Million Dollars and Live Happily Ever After (dir: William Wyler; 1965) and Bloodline (dir: Terence Young; 1979).

1954  

Upon the death of Jacques Fath, French entrepreneur Jean Prouvost asks Hubert de Givenchy to develop the first collection of high-end women’s ready-to-wear to be designed by a couturier. Jacques Fath Université thus becomes Givenchy Université. The line is manufactured in Paris’s 10th arrondissement garment district on industrial sewing machines imported from the United States.

1956  

To stall counterfeit, Cristóbal Balenciaga and Hubert de Givenchy take the initiative of presenting their collections simultaneously to the clients and the press. Catwalk shows have been presented this way ever since.

1958  

Hubert de Givenchy presents his baby-doll collection to critical acclaim.

1961  

Hubert de Givenchy designs Jacqueline Kennedy’s wardrobe for her state visit to France and dresses her for dinner with president de Gaulle in Versailles. The fittings are cloaked in secrecy: the ever-stylish First Lady is held to wear only American brands, but, true to form, chooses the diplomatic slur over the fashion faux pas. De Gaulle compares her to a Watteau oil painting.

Maison Givenchy moves to n°3, avenue George V, and opens its first Parisian boutique at the same address. Although Hubert de Givenchy first balks at the extravagant cost of his new headquarters, Balenciaga predicts that in two years he will have outgrown his ateliers.

1968  

Launch of the high-end ready-to-wear collection 'Givenchy Nouvelle Boutique', in association with French clothing manufacturer Mendès.

1978  

Givenchy is awarded the Dé d’or, France’s most coveted fashion prize, for his fall/winter collection.

1983  

Hubert de Givenchy is knighted Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur.

1995  

Hubert de Givenchy retires from the house he founded forty-three years earlier.