By Brandis Ohlsson
Riccardo Tisci is the creative director of Givenchy, one of the most respected and coveted French fashion houses. When he’s not dressing celebrities like Beyoncé, Katy Perry, and Rhianna, Tisci is busy making careers. Known as a designer who is heavily involved in the casting process for his shows, helping to launch the careers of some of the fashion industry’s most well known models.
Tisci takes a different approach to his casting process than many of his colleagues, by looking to form long term relationships with his models, versus using them for a season and moving on. It can be said that he’s looking for a muse, not a clothes hanger. He’s also not interested in looks alone – to Tisci, personality is just as important.
He recently said to Style.com- “For me, a really good model has got a personality. It’s about beauty, of course—like a classic kind of beauty—but that isn’t the only factor. A girl can have an unusual personality or a strange beauty. And for me, you see it, you feel it in the moment you meet the girl, that she could be the girl. You know, at the end of the day, a show is not just made out of the clothes, it’s made out of emotion.”
When speaking of some of his most memorable girls cast, Tisci speaks of Lara Stone- a girl he loved because she was different than what stereotypically works as a model these days. Natasha Poly, of whom he helped arrange working papers to come to Italy. Joan Smalls, who worked as his fit model prior to talking in the shows, and Mariacarla, who Tisci declares as his true muse, someone who grows more beautiful with age and who has been his friend since the very beginning. These girls, all a part of the “Tisci Girl Gang”, skyrocketed after getting their big breaks from Riccardo Tisci. And it’s not just models – Tisci is also credited with breaking Kim Kardashian into the fashion scene.
Riccardo Tisco – designer, creative director, and fairy god mother of sorts to aspiring models everywhere.
Kim Kardashian
Mariacarla
Joan Smalls
