The Best of Clare Waight Keller’s Givenchy Designs in Vogue

Clare Waight Keller’s three years at Givenchy were action-packed. In 2017, soon after becoming the first woman to lead the house founded in 1952 by Hubert de Givenchy, she undertook the design of Meghan Markle’s wedding dress.

Givenchy was one of the first maisons known for what we now call celebrity dressing after Monsieur Givenchy established a working relationship with the gamine Audrey Hepburn. In designing Markle’s dress, Waight Keller extended this tradition into a new century. The project was a boon for the artistic director and the Paris house, as the nuptials were watched by millions of enthusiastic royal watchers around the world.

Markle’s wedding dress was noted for its simplicity; it also had a Sabrina-like sweetness to it. But Waight Keller took an entirely different tact on the runway. In a 180-degree turn from the soft bohemian romanticism she championed at Chloé, she pursued a harder, tailored aesthetic in her ready-to-wear designs for men and women, as well as for the couture. This streamlining was no doubt informed by the minimalism favored by the house founder.

To her credit, the designer has developed distinct signatures for each of the houses—Pringle, Chloé, Givenchy—that she has led. She leaves the last having proven the breadth of her ability, and its range.

Here, a look back at Waight Keller’s Givenchy designs, as they appeared in Vogue.