Givenchy Fall Winter 2008-2009

Italian designer Riccardo Tisci faced a conundrum when he joined the Givenchy fashion house three years ago. Though critics were lukewarm at first, he has succeeded where his predecessors failed with a mixture of strict tailoring and Gothic romanticism.

In his show on Wednesday, Tisci piled pounds of silver crosses and chains onto slim black coats and embroidered a silver ex-voto heart on a sober-yet-sexy black satin blouse.

Lace was used to fine effect, either as camouflage on a see-through dress or as trim on a cream wool coat laden with black passementerie and thick faux gemstones.