The huge range of designers doing ready-to-wear allows that artistically, though certainly not financially, there’s room for everyone. Couture’s rarefied ranks, made more so by the attrition of the last 10 years, mean that all in the game are considered on the Dior-Chanel scale, since its metric is that of two of the most powerful fashion houses in the world led by two of the most genius designers in the world who have at their disposal the two most remarkable ateliers in the world. When those two houses produce at the pinnacle of their abilities, as happened this week — bust goes the curve. And that’s a problem for someone like Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci, a good designer who has yet to fully deliver on his early promise. The collection Tisci presented Tuesday showed progress and featured some very strong clothes. But it’s a different kind of couture than that which sets the standard. 

Tisci married two artsy inspirations, the work of 19th-century painter Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, who fancied a thick carpet of rose petals perfect for sensual lounging (Tisci petaled his floor in lovely homage), and Pina Bausch’s delicate dance costumes. Hence the palette of nude-to-pink tones and the languid drapiness of the cuts. Many were lovely, as Tisci tempered his grander gestures with a savvy reality factor, a chic power suit with romantic rounded shoulders; a sheath with an attitude upgrade via a dramatic asymmetric capelet. For evening, he successfully reimagined the goddess motif in a number of distinctive variations. That said, many looks incorporated his fascination with bondage, which at this point does him no favors. Yes, it has become his signature, but it’s a limited one that someone else pioneered. Tisci should try, if not to move on permanently, at least to give it a rest.