Figurine

Original sketch made with black felt-tip pen, of a model of Givenchy's women's clothing. \Hubert de Givenchy, French designer born in 1927 in Beauvais in the bosom of an aristocratic family, studied at the School of Fine Arts in Paris from where he went on to work with Jacques Fath in 1946, with Robert Piguet until 1948, with Lucien Lelong until 1949 and finally with the Italian Elsa Schiaparelli. In 1951, at the age of 24, he decided to open his own couture house with the support of his admired Cristóbal Balenciaga, with whom he coincided in his vision of fashion, seeking purity and perfection of lines and volumes free of ornaments, which is why many have considered him his natural heir. In the 60s his muse was the actress Audrey Hepburn, for whom he created the wardrobe for almost all his films, and Liz Taylor, Jean Seberg, Jacqueline Kennedy, Grace Kelly and the Duchess of Windsor were also his clients. For men, he also launched a collection of elegant suits combined with matching ties and pocket handkerchiefs. \In 1988, Givenchy sold his name to LVMH, Louis Vuitton-Moët-Hennessy, with the commitment to continue running the company until the end of 1995. He was followed by John Galliano, Alexander McQueen and, currently, Julien MacDonald. \He has been one of the driving forces behind the Cristobal Balenciaga Museum in Guetaria and is chairman of the board of trustees of the Balenciaga Foundation. In 2011 he was awarded by the Spanish government with the Order of Arts and Letters.