Biography
Riccardo Tisci is an Italian designer, renowned for his work at Givenchy, a French house that Tisci resurrected to its former profitable glory and his work at Burbery. Impressively, the designer crafted distinct brand identities for all of Givenchy’s product categories across women’s and men’s ready-to-wear and haute couture lines. At Burberry, he lifted sales after faltering period, and revamping the company's brand identity.
Tisci grew up in a tight-knit, single-parent, working-class family in Italy. The designer describes his family life as hugely influential on him and remembers his childhood as one filled with love. Tisci left regular school aged 11 to enroll in art school in Milan. “I wanted to express myself and I couldn't really do it through words at that point," he told The Daily Telegraph. The designer was selected for a scholarship by Central Saint Martins, from which he graduated in 1999. He then held design positions at Puma, Antonio Berardi and with Ruffo Research, before embarking on his own brand in 2004. As a result of his bold, powerfully-feminine designs, Tisci was announced as the creative director of Givenchy’s womenswear and haute couture lines in 2005. After announcing his amicable departure from the house in February 2017 with a subsequent sabbatical, Tisci was named chief creative officer at Burberry in March 2018, succeeding Christopher Bailey .
Tisci’s creations found willing consumers immediately; the designer’s vision for Givenchy initially found traction with consumers rather than editors. In just two years Tisci had revitalised the house’s couture business. He chose to stop showing couture in 2012, taking the business behind the scenes in-house once more.
In May 2008 he was appointed chief designer of menswear and menswear accessories in addition to his womenswear role. His menswear collections have received rampant critical acclaim and caused the formation of tribe-like followers, many of whom, such as Kanye West, are very much in the public eye. Tisci’s marriage of streetwear influences, Parisian sensibilities and global motifs made Givenchy’s printed sweatshirts a fashion staple, as well as broadening the brand’s appeal exponentially.
Following over a decade of experience at the creative helm of Givenchy, Tisci transitioned to Burberry, an announcement that sent share prices soaring by over 5 percent. Joining Marco Gobetti a second time, who also joined Burberry as its chief executive following a stint at Givenchy, Tisci took on plans to reinvigorate product and consumer experiences and expand Burberry's first venture into high end streetwear after a partnership with Gosha Rubchinsky in 2018. Under Tisci's watch, both Burberry's London flagship location and it's monogram logo underwent a revamp, the latter of which debuted with a series of international pop-up installations featuring the new Peter Saville -designed Burberry logo. Following the highly anticipated first Spring/Summer 2019 collection and logo redesign, Burberry reported a 4 percent rise in first quarter comparable store sales in 2019. In September 2022, Burberry announced Tisci was to step down from the creative helm of the brand.