G I V E N C H Y Couture 2010

Riccardo Tisci, for Givenchy, embodies the very essence of haute couture in his 2010 collection for the legendary fashion house. Tisci, who has been Givenchy's Creative Director since 2005, drew from his fascination with the Gothic style and gave it a high-end fashion make-over.

The artist, Frida Khalo was also an inspiration for this collection. Elements of religion, sensuality and the human anatomy characterized  her paintings and served as points of departure for Tisci. He reinterpreted items that could be considered as morose, such as skulls, bones and spinal cords into ornamental embellishments created in porcelain and Swarovski crystals and used them to adorn the garments.

The color palette for the stunning collection was mainly white, ivory, and gold. Dark brown was used sparingly. Ostrich feathers, chantilly lace, leather, crystals, glass beads and pearls carried forth Tisci's vision of a "romantic way of seeing death."

Some of the garments had 1,600 hours of painstaking labor in them and most were nearly too heavy to lift -- all worth it.

The end result: an exquisite fusion of art, fashion and couture. Flawless.

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