Givenchy: Sarah Burton's Quiet Menswear Debut

For her first Givenchy menswear collection, Sarah Burton chose not to compete with the week's bigger theatrical statements.

Instead she staged a presentation inside Hubert de Givenchy's former hôtel particulier on Avenue George V, arranging three rooms of mannequins alongside sculptures by British artist Rachel Whiteread including two colossal black props, 'Closet' and 'Wardrobe', which Whiteread told Burton represented her younger and older selves. The clothes themselves worked through classic male archetypes: sharply tailored suits, soft bomber jackets, leather rugby shirts and a house-archived tulip-patterned tie, finished with playful details like a couture-atelier jacket label.

'The two collections talk to each other,' Burton said of syncing her men's and women's design studios — a quiet but confident way to mark 67 years of Givenchy menswear heritage without ever raising her voice.