What I’ve learned from the founder of Givenchy — Hubert de Givenchy
In the world of fashion, the name Hubert de Givenchy is one of the most respected and celebrated names. This French fashion designer and businessman built one of the biggest fashion houses in the world called Givenchy. Let us see what we can learn from his life.
Overview:
These are lessons you will learn as you read the article below:
- Lesson 1: Have a mentor.
- Lesson 2: Your friends can destroy or bring success into your life.
- Lesson 3: Always be ready to move on to something
Background and Early Life of Hubert de Givenchy:
Hubert de Givenchy was born on February 21, 1927, in Beauvais, France. He was born into a protestant family. For context, a protestant family is a family that practices or adheres to the principles of Protestantism ( going to church, reading the bible and living according to biblical principles). Protestantism is part of Christianity.
Examples of protestant churches are Lutherans, Methodists and so on.
He is the younger son of Lucien de Givenchy and Béatrice Badin. On his paternal side, they were nobles, while on the maternal side, they were artists. His father passed on when he was three years old due to influenza. This situation compelled the young Givenchy, his elder brother Jean-Claude de Givenchy plus their mother to go live with their grandmother.
So let us start with the first lesson learned from his life.
Lesson 1: Have a Mentor:
In 1953 Givenchy met with Cristóbal Balenciaga. Cristóbal Balenciaga is the founder of Balenciaga. Givenchy really admired Cristóbal. Cristóbal became a mentor to Givenchy, and the two of them collaborated on some of their projects ( in the mid-1950s, they teamed up to introduce a new silhouette called the sack).
Having a mentor is very beneficial for succeeding in any venture you may want to follow. You can always leverage your mentor’s experience and expertise to avoid many pitfalls in your life or business.
There will always be people with more experience and knowledge than you, whether in business or life. In South Africa, we have a saying, Indlela ibuzwa kwabaphambili, which translates as “asking those who have gone before you for the right path”.
Lesson 2: Your friends can destroy or bring success into your life
Givenchy designed clothes for many celebrities and affluent people in his lifetime, folks like Jackie Kennedy(the wife of President Kennedy) and Audrey Hepburn (who became his closest affiliate and friend).
He and Audrey met in 1953 when she came in and borrowed several outfits for her role in Sabrina. This encounter between them developed into a long-term friendship and collaboration between them. As Audrey Hepburn grew in fame, so did the brand of Givenchy.
Givenchy and Hepburn friendship inspired him to create a perfume called L’Interdit in 1957.
Part of the reason why the Givenchy brand grew was because of his friend. His being close to an actress provided him with the opportunity for business growth. The brand got exposure because of the friendship between him and Audrey. So who you know matters. Your friends have the power to prosper you or bring you to poverty.
So beware of who you hang around with and what they bring to the table.
Lesson 3: Always be ready to move on to something
In 1988 Givenchy sold his business to Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessey for 45 million dollars, then remained the creative head of design for seven years. In 1995 he retired. When he passed away in 2018 he was worth 200 million dollars.
Our lives are governed by seasons and time. There is time for everything and seasons for all things. Mr Givenchy understood this concept very well, and when the time for him to retire, he did. He never forced things.
One of the benefits he had with selling his business to LVMH was he benefited from their infrastructure and expertise, therefore allowing for faster growth.
Conclusion:
The life of Givenchy shows that who you interact with or befriend can influence the trajectory of your life. With the right people in your life, you can succeed. Beware of who you allow in your life. We can see this from the founder of Givenchy. His success was influenced most by ms Hepburn. The fame of ms Hepburn made Givenchy’s brand to be more famous.
My sources:
