The Givenchy Pre-Fall 2023 collectionf features feathers, crystals, and paillettes that added texture to carefully cut evening pieces garlanded with ruching and bows.

More broadly the interplay between Givenchy’s couture codes and Williams’s more democratic sensibilities was played out in contrasts of material and form—trucker jackets and MA1s in wool/silk—and contrasting adjacencies mostly delineated by the dichotomy between tailoring’s ‘formality’ and more casual pieces.

“It’s continuing that dialogue between the Parisian codes of the house and my version of Americana, which is heavily influenced by California and New York,” said Creative Director Matthew M. Williams.

New hardware came in the form of a fastening christened the ‘G-clip,’ which was a salute to Williams’s own early-formed design codes.

Through his conversation with the origins of the house he now stewards, Williams is both enriching his interpretation of it and expanding his own design vocabulary.