Clare Waight Keller's Haute Couture: Latex Meets High Fashion at Givenchy

Clare Waight Keller, the first female artistic director at Givenchy, presented her third haute couture collection, 'Bleached Canvas', at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. The show featured unconventional materials like latex, produced in collaboration with London-based fetish lab Atsuko Kudo, alongside traditional couture techniques such as organza clouds and transparent corsets. Waight Keller's designs, described as architectural yet light, included black latex leggings, a tailored jacket with a white lapel, and back bows hiding backpacks. The collection debuted to Puccini's Tosca sung by Montserrat Caballé. The article also discusses the broader state of haute couture, noting that while the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture currently lists 14 members including Dior and Chanel, new designers like Olivier Rousteing at Balmain and Iris van Herpen (who left prêt-à-porter in 2016) are reshaping the field. The piece references the growing number of millionaires and billionaires globally, particularly 'crazy rich Asians', as a driver of couture's resilience.