Givenchy's first show under Matthew Williams The brand's minimal techno revolution

It would be difficult to define what was Matthew Williams' real debut at Givenchy. Choosing to present a first part of the collection in the showroom, and then accompany it to an extensive seeding campaign with celebrities from half the world, followed by a real campaign, followed in turn by the Givenchy FW21 show held yesterday, the feeling is that we've finally shaken hands with a person we've met only unofficially. Williams himself has no doubt, and speaking to the press at the brand's historic Paris headquarters, he said: «It does feel like that [a real debut, ed] just because it’s a runway show».

To hit the mark, Williams directed a fashion show that is a concentrate of his aesthetic: a Robert Hood techno soundtrack, blinding spotlights, a rain-soaked concrete venue that looks like the perfect scene for an illegal rave (but it's actually the Paris La Défense Arena) and, of course, a flurry of top models led by Bella Hadid. 

As always, Williams' vision was able to give a unitary body to a set of disparate but sometimes very obvious influences: that heel-clog present at the feet of almost every model reminded far away of Alexander McQueen's legendary Armadillo Boot, certain fusions of Militar-utilitarian aesthetics and bondage come perhaps from Helmut Lang while other influences came from the world of Raf Simons and Martin Margiela. From all these languages and inspirations, however, Williams has drawn a vision of luxury that seems more personal than derivative and that, developed in the right direction, will not fail to assert itself very much in the wardrobes of the planetary jet-set.