Staged under the watchful gaze of a bronze Napoleon at the Hôtel des Invalides, Givenchy’s Spring/Summer 2024 collection was orchestrated with pointed purpose. The historic military monument was thematically suited to Matthew Williams’s trademark utilitarianism—though the designs were observably lacking the former’s structural rigidity: supersized chinos cinched with overlaying hooks; trench coats in double-faced cotton; tuxedos only slightly elongated, in lurex and brushed wool; military smocks reimagined with state-of-the-art fabric treatments, dubbed Givenchy Garment Dyed.

It was Williams’s youth that served as the initial imaginative grounds for the collection—more specifically, British schoolboy apparel. The designer preserved its functionality, while inverting and elevating its form. “That’s what’s beautiful about Givenchy,” he noted post-show. “It speaks to so many men and women, [of various] ages. If you take all the products together, it could be for lots of different people.”