Set in Paris’s La Defense Arena, Matthew M. Williams unveiled his first physical runway show for the House of Givenchy on Sunday night with onlookers curious to see his modern design aesthetic. Collaborating with sculpture artist and grim reaper painter Josh Smith, Williams created a collection of contrasts, a trend that fashion is seeing in the spring summer 2022 season.
Since taking the helm as Givenchy’s creative director in June 2020, Williams has shaken up the house of Givenchy by creating looks that are luxury yet practical. He comes from the skateboard culture of southern California and his style is streetwear creations. While he isn’t design school trained, he has made waves in fashion over the years and has his own streetwear brand Alyx. The Kardashians, Kylie Jenner, and Gigi Hadid are all loyal Williams wearers of his Givenchy creations.
In a dark area with an egg shaped white floored runway, Williams unveiled his collection, partnering with two other American artists to tell his SS22 story. Young Thug, an Atlanta rapper created the soundtrack of songs played during the show. Speaking of the artists he worked with Williams states in house notes: “To do this I worked with people I admire across different disciplines who have truly unique perspectives including the artist Josh Smith, whose iconic work is incorporated throughout the collection, and the musician Young Thug, who created the entire score for the show.” Young Thug’s tracks from the show is unreleased material that will be on his October 15th album “Punk.” “The collaboration and this collection offer people a remarkably immersive and special experience,” continues Williams.
In a Vogue interview before the show, Williams and Smith revealed that they met 8 months before starting to work on the collection. In describing working with Williams, Smith likens it to cooking in a kitchen: “Matt showed up in my studio and we started cooking together. We made some delicious things. We burnt some stuff and that tasted good too. Matt took a to-go bag back to Paris and shared all of this with his sharp creative team. This collection is a miracle. The sky is the limit. Thanks for taking a look.”
The collection is filled with looks for men and women, and according to notes from the house “explore the tension between extravagance and discipline, tradition and today.” Williams has done masculine tailoring using contrasting fabrics from mohair wools, Napa leathers, cotton herringbones and Prince of Wales checks that he bonded to neoprene and sculpted to the female form for the corsets and peplums added to the shorts and minis in the collection, taken from house archives, from house founder Hubert de Givenchy. The use of basket weaving techniques in the leatherwork with macramé and raffia on the clothing and bags is a Smith touch.
Smith is known for painting colorful grim reapers, which were printed on shirts and pants, along with jack-o-lanterns and personal totems done in bright color. Silhouettes for men and women included deconstructed looks with shirts and jackets. Lots of color, a first for Williams who typically sticks with black and white, and bold silhouettes for men and women can be seen throughout.
Lots of bags are seen in the collection from the ‘Kenny’ bag seen at the Met Gala. And the “Neo-Antigona’ bag, a house classic was seen throughout, along with the multifunctional backpack for men with ‘4G’ fastenings was seen in various colors. The shoes in the collection include the 4G detailing, and Williams created Givenchy’s first fully knitted shoe made for comfort.
It was a runway show creatively designed by Americans from the lead designer, to the collaborating designer- and the soundtrack creator. One thing Williams proved is that while his aesthetic is streetwear, and his color palette is typically black and white, he is capable of throwing curve balls. He threw one Sunday by adding way more color than we’re used to. Challenging construction, Williams has created contrast that embraces tradition and Givenchy classism.
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