The Princess of Wales’s favourite designer has a new job at Meghan’s go-to label

After much speculation, Sarah Burton, previously of Alexander McQueen, has officially been appointed creative director of Givenchy.

Sidney Toledano, chairman of the Givenchy board and a man who has been round the fashion block so many times he could navigate it blindfolded (he was CEO of Dior for 20 years, but also, in his role at LVMH, oversaw Marc Jacobs, Loewe, Celine, Kenzo, Pucci…) commented that “Sarah Burton is an exceptional creative talent …[with] a unique vision and approach to fashion”.

All true. Arguably her weak spot is bags, the major revenue driver for many luxury brands. She doesn’t have a great personal interest in them, preferring pockets, and the bag line at McQueen were considered to have more misses than hits. But most big houses have separate accessories teams. She has a knack for outstanding costume jewellery, so if they get the right backup for her at Givenchy, Burton’s lack of form with bags is not a biggie, especially compared with how much the 72-year-old house stands to gain.

A woman with an unmatched understanding of slow craft and an eye for a strong-soft silhouette, she’ll bring a modern fairytale narrative to a brand that has seemed fatally prosaic of late.

Burton’s own gentle demeanour, combined with a laser vision of what McQueen should be, won her legions of fans while she was there, including most famously, the Princess of Wales who, in 2011, entrusted Burton with her wedding dress, and thereafter turned to her for many of her most important state appearances.

When the Princess embarked on a new, more modern, business-like sartorial era, it was Sarah Burton’s trouser suits that formed the foundation of her collection. In the 12 years the Princess and the somewhat shy creative director worked together on Kate’s wardrobe, they formed a low-key friendship based on mutual trust, discretion and shared characteristics: both are unshowy women with young families and a reliable instinct for what a modern royal wardrobe should look like.

So yes, Givenchy, which hasn’t had a princess to dress since Audrey Hepburn, its most famous patron (and Hollywood royalty), could potentially be about to land a plum. Is this what Givenchy is counting on to revive its somewhat faded reputation?

More to the point, will the Princess feel able to follow her favourite designer to Paris?

All bets are off at this point. Insiders I spoke to said while the two women have a great respect and fondness for one another, this is not a straightforward transfer. For one thing, unless she’s on a foreign diplomatic mission, Catherine has heavily favoured British labels for her big appearances. By contrast, Givenchy is very much a French-owned and run fashion house.

Another complication: in her brief time as a working royal, the Duchess of Sussex chose Givenchy, Burton’s new home, as her de facto official couturier. Clare Waight Keller, creative director of Givenchy between 2016 and 2020 designed Meghan’s wedding dress in 2018, and followed up that coup with many other official outfits. French couture being what it is (primarily, eye-wateringly expensive, far more so than the British variety and much more than the famously frugal royals care to pay), this didn’t particularly help the public warm to the Duchess.

Had Kate not been ill and out of the public eye for most of the past year, we might perhaps have been better able to predict where this will go. When Burton left McQueen last year (no one knows for sure whether she was pushed or if she jumped), it was thought that Burton might continue to work with the Princess as an independent designer.

There’s no doubt she depends on Burton’s eye for both detail and a simple but suitable majestic statement. But when it comes to shopping at a haute Parisian brand strongly associated with her estranged sister-in-law… you can see the problem.

On the other hand, Clare Waight Keller, an excellent and highly successful designer in her own right, is now two stops down the line from current Givenchy, having unexpectedly departed from the house in 2020. She was replaced by the American, Matthew M Williams, who was best known for styling Lady Gaga.

And there you have why Givenchy potentially stands to gain more from this latest signing than Burton. Put baldly, the brand has recently looked like a basket case. Williams was good at his styling job – arguably his clothes helped create the Gaga legend as much as her music did. But to replace Waight Keller – a woman who had huge success at Chloé, before designing a lauded wedding dress and exquisite red carpet couture gowns at Givenchy with someone best known for dressing a pop star in raw meat, does rather suggest the powers that be didn’t have the clearest grasp of what Givenchy stood for.

Then again, Givenchy has alway punched well below the weight of its reputation, the bulk of which was forged in the Hepburn years. The Givenchy archives are surprisingly thin on distinctive originals. Nor was there ever a memorable bag to match the quilted, gilt chained shoulder Mademoiselle 2.55 that Coco Chanel came up with in 1955.

Hubert de Givenchy retired in 1995, replaced firstly by John Galliano, who saw it as a stepping stone to the much bigger prize of Dior, then, in 1996 by Alexander McQueen. That was a marriage made in hell, as McQueen made apparent. He left in 2001. There was a fruitful period under Italian designer Ricardo Tisci, during which the house became a magnet for Kardashians. Tisci was good at designing bags, but more importantly, T-shirts adorned with pictures of cartoon Bambi which became an important cash cow. Too important arguably, for a brand that aspired to be high luxury.

As for Waight Keller – her collections were well-reviewed and badly merchandised. There was no sales bounce from the Royal connection – but as we have frequently seen, even Kate cannot save a brand in distress (Temperly, Jonathan Saunders, Mulberry…all brands she has patronised have experienced rocky times or closed).

Meanwhile, Toledano, who only assumed chairmanship of the board of Givenchy this year, has an enviable record for maximising brands. Having lured Alessandro Valenti, from Louis Vuitton, one of the world’s biggest, most profitable luxury brands to be Givenchy’s new CEO in June, he already had one impressive jigsaw piece in place. Valenti will have been mainly responsible for sealing the deal with Burton. “I eagerly anticipate the new creative energy Sarah will bring as she works alongside our outstanding teams in our exceptional workshops, and we embark on this new chapter in the history of Givenchy,” he says.

Burton will be in charge of men’s and women’s wear. Potentially, she may also be granted a Parisian couture wing (albeit a small one) in which to make her creative dreams come true, should Givenchy reopen it, having shuttered it under Williams. You can believe her when she says: “It is a great honour to be joining the beautiful house of Givenchy, it is a jewel. I am so excited to be able to write the next chapter in the story of this iconic house and to bring to Givenchy my own vision, sensibility and beliefs”.

Fans of beautifully crafted, gimmick-free clothes also finally have something to get excited about, after all the look-alike minimalism on the one hand, and cruddy stunts on the other, that have washed down the catwalks lately.

As Chioma Nnadi, head of editorial content at British Vogue, says, “We’ve all been waiting with bated breath for this appointment. Sarah Burton is so beloved in the industry, especially here in the UK and I think there’s a real sense of excitement for her return; this is the moment for her to step into her own light. Givenchy has a history of championing exceptional British talent—John Galliano and Lee McQueen spring to mind—so this really does feel like the perfect fit.”

As for Meghan, she hasn’t worn Givenchy since she and Harry left the UK in 2020. Mind you, almost no one wore it during Williams’ tenure. Perhaps her time in the firm appears to have been so traumatising, she probably moved on long ago from the clothes she wore then. Kate, the coast is clear.