Matthew M. Williams’s Givenchy Pre-Fall 2021 collection proposed a series of wardrobe staples with an endlessly-studied twist, subverted through his soft-versus-aggressive lens.

“What I find exciting is often things I would wear myself,” as Williams said. “As somebody who shops, if I’m buying a suit and I want to wear a t-shirt with the suit instead of a button-up, I want that brand to have a nice t-shirt for me to wear.”

The collection featured a classic letterman jacket chopped into a bolero and realized in a super luxe, tonal red knitwear; a rather normal long-sleeved black day dress hacked up at the waist like a little piece of architecture; or businessy blazers with complex lapel and collar structures seemingly morphing in and out the fabric.

“For me, it’s really finding that tension between my real world—how I wear clothes on a daily basis—with this magical dream world of the Maison,” he said. More often than not, that implied a bellicose level of fabric treatment, leatherwork, or embellishment.

Williams also made a case for the comfort-wear of the post-pandemic shopping landscape. Knitted, slightly figure-hugging dresses continued to outline his womenswear silhouette for Givenchy, while silk leggings and EVA-soled suede sliders represented the elevated sportswear element of the collection.

Williams also utilized Givenchy’s archival four-G logo by latticing a lace dress and embossed them on bags—including the new ‘Emblem’—and forged them in bag chains giving the collection his personal touch.