Givenchy

"My work is my body, my body is my work," these words by the Portuguese artist Helena Almeida became a leitmotif of the Givenchy FW 2020 collection. Clare Waight Keller, the brand's Artistic Director, managed to interpret famous and recognizable images in her latest garments. "From the actress' sultry gaze to the bodily gestures of human sculpture, lines are drawn between the gritty heyday of French cinema and musings on performance art," the designer's vision is being explained. It feels as if one got into the arthouse movie, surrounded by dozens of unique characters, each expressing its own story through the clothes.

The impression of being inside the elusive universe is enhanced by the graphic formality. A custom-made tailoring and intricate patterns added to the surrealism of the campaign: there are eternal checks and dots, aggressively wide stripes and circles. The so-called La Rocca's apostrophes are playfully hanging on the floor-length dresses, while faux fur coats and massive gothic style hats are the drama queens of the show. Other attention-grabbing pieces are the feathered skirts, jackets, and half-transparent evening-gowns.

Even taking one look at the pieces would be enough to grasp the standing-out hues. White, red and black are dominating the capsule, creating a mixture of mysterious, femme fatale combinations. It can also be traced that the garments are often monotone, which exaggerates the subsumed moods of the total looks.