Paris Fashion Week: Givenchy brings sexy back

After last season’s flirtation with a ladylike look, designer Riccardo Tisci brought sexy back for spring at Givenchy, with enough thigh-high boots, corsetry, leather and lace to leave the two straight men seated next to me practically panting. And front-rowers Kim Kardashian and Kanye West? Well, I can only imagine they told their pal Tisci, “We’ll take one of everything.”

Was Tisci’s inspiration Spanish, Mexican, Western, bordello, “Bonanza” or all of the above? Who knows and who cares? It was a stand-up-and-cheer collection full of gotta-have-it items for boho sophisticates, beginning with matador jackets and coats in graphic black-and-white, rich with embroidery, worn over skin-tight leather pants. The other must-haves? Leather gladiator coats and dresses with artful pleats, so dense with studding and detail, they will probably cost as much as a small car. They were worn over shorts or with thigh-high boots. (The boots and shorts thing is shaping up to be a trend; it turned up at Dior too, as did the intricately embroidered coat as outfit hero piece.)

Corset lacing and whip stitching was all over everything, cinching up the fronts of little black dresses and scoop tops so that they served up a heady amount of bosom and used as trim on the edges of a black-and-white bolero jacket. Point d’esprit lace was crafted into romantic blouses, and woven through a sensational-looking black-and-white stripe silk dress. For glam nights, out came metallic fringe jackets and pieced-together lace dresses with a subtle sheen. And for the entry level luxury consumer, there were T-shirts with stars, stripes and cross motifs and large, cross body satchel bags.

With short, swishy dresses, skin tight pants, miles of leg and cleavage galore, the seduction level of this collection inched toward fetish wear, but Tisci kept it reined in just enough to be respectable — and romantic. This is a look that should sell like gangbusters in L.A. (Leaving the show, I overheard super stylist Rachel Zoe going bananas over the collection.) Sure, it’s easy to replicate (no doubt, the Zaras and H&Ms of the world are already starting). But the workmanship was extraordinary, so much so that many women will hold out for the real thing.

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