Announced today, Clare Waight Keller will leave her role as artistic director of Givenchy after a three-year tenure
In news announced this afternoon, British designer Clare Waight Keller is set to exit her role as artistic director of Givenchy after a three-year tenure. The womenswear collection shown this previous March at Paris Fashion Week will be her last.
On her personal Instagram account, Waight Keller – who was the first woman to be appointed artistic director of the French house – said that she felt “honoured to have been given the opportunity to cherish its legacy and bring it new life”.
“Focusing on a world based on haute couture has been one of the highlights of my professional journey,” she continued. “I have shared so many incredible moments with the brilliant Givenchy ateliers and design teams ... My heartfelt thanks go out to each of the unsung heroes and heroines behind the scenes.”
Waight Keller was perhaps best known for designing the white silk-cady wedding gown and five-metre-long veil which Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, wore to marry the Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry. In her runway collections, she found much of her inspiration from Hubert de Givenchy’s original designs, streamlining them for a new era. She also was inspired by overlooked female figures from history, from Virginia Woolf’s lover Vita Sackville-West to pioneering queer icon Annemarie Schwarzenbach.
“I am now looking forward to embarking on the next episode. Love and creativity remain central to what I do, and who I am, as does a heartfelt belief in kindness, and the courage to be true to your art,” Waight Keller’s post concluded. “See you soon.”