Givenchy

Designer Riccardo Tisci is rumored to be in the running to replace John Galliano at Christian Dior. We’ll see what happens, but this fantastical Fall 2011 collection certainly belied his covetable creative talents. There was a jaguar theme going on: images of the black cat mid-roar were printed onto satin pencil skirts, baseball jackets and boxy sweatshirt styles. Tisci also worked a Fifties pin-up angle that skewed slightly S&M, embodied by sheer black organza tops, patent leather lampshade skirts and bold cat-eye glasses. All this while also referencing the ostentatious Eighties with replicas of Gianni Versace’s bold chain-print satin jackets and the like. It’s a mish-mash of inspirations but Tisci connected the dots so well, you wondered why it hadn’t been done earlier.