The story
Founded by Hubert de Givenchy in 1952.1
Givenchy was founded in 1952 by designer Hubert de Givenchy, who retired in 1995. Known first for his haute couture work, Givenchy founded Les Parfums Givenchy in 1957. This business division was primarily managed (and owned) by his elder brother Jean-Claude de Givenchy who previously was an airline executive with Air France in New York City. He left the company shortly after being sold to France's Institut de Développement Industriel in 1979. In 1958, Hubert de Givenchy asked his friend Audrey Hepburn to be the face of his parfume, L'Interdit, which only she was allowed to wear for a full year. He created a revolution in using, for the first time, a movie star on an advertising campaign.
Monsieur de Givenchy and l'Eau de Vetiver were launched in 1957 and 1959, respectively, followed in 1970 by the launch of the female fragrance Givenchy III with the slogan "Who knows why one is reminded of a particular woman and not another one? Givenchy III gives memories to men." The success of Parfums Givenchy led to the construction of a factory in Beauvais.
Famous patrons include the Guinness, Grimaldi and Kennedy families, who famously wore Givenchy clothes to the funeral of John F. Kennedy.
Hubert de Givenchy created the “4G” logo for the brand and a cosmetic line launched in the United States.
Some of Givenchy's successful fragrances include Ysatis, Amarige, Organza, Very Irresistible, Ange ou Démon, Dahlia noir (2011) for women, and Monsieur de Givenchy (first fragrance for men, 1959), Gentleman, Pi, Givenchy pour Homme, Vetyver and Play for men.
In May 2019, a first-ever pop-up Givenchy beauty suite opened its doors to the visitors of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, where the guests of the Cannes Film Festival could get their Givenchy makeover ahead of the red carpet premiere. This was part of an effort to revitalize the cosmetics line.
From Wikipedia’s article on Parfums Givenchy, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4