Look of the day: Givenchy gives good couture

With haute couture week drawing to a close in Paris, it takes something truly bold to standout amid the eye-poppingly gorgeous gowns. But Givenchy have done just that with the stills from their latest collection. Shot in the real world, just like these street-side shots , instead of the more formal studio settings the big designers tend to favour to showcase their collections, Riccardo Tisci's designs seem to come alive when they're exposed to the elements. Column dresses are by definition grand and elegant, but teaming them with leather, capes, substantial eyewear and an alsatian transforms this group of pretty models into fearless warriors, entirely in keeping with the tone of a collection which combines dense embroidery and geometric patterns in honour of the 'opulence of the gypsy world meets the pure lines of the 1960s' (to quote the collection notes). And of those ladies, it's a rare pleasure to see black models in the majority.