Dress Is More

He knows exactly, to the last ruffle, how far to go, " pronounced fabled fashion editor Carmel Snow of a gangly Frenchman who, at twenty-four, had just opened his own house of couture in Paris. In the succeeding thirty-nine years, Hubert de Givenchy—known as le grand Hubert for both his height and -aristocratic comportment—has tempered made-toorder extravagance with disciplined subtlety, creating some of the more enduring images of elegance in the twentieth century, from the "nothing" black sheath worn by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's to the white satin gown in which Jackie Kennedy won the hearts of the French at Versailles. This month, "Givenchy: 40 Years of Design, " a celebratory exhibition, opens at the Museum of Fashion and Costumes at the Palais Galliera in Paris.