Riccardo Tisci

Riccardo Tisci is an Italian fashion designer born in Taranto in 1974. After graduating from Central Saint Martins in 1999, he worked for companies including Puma, Antonio Berardi and Ruffo Research before presenting collections under his own name. Givenchy appointed him artistic director of women’s ready-to-wear and haute couture in 2005; responsibility for menswear followed in 2008. During his twelve years at the house, he directed couture, ready-to-wear, accessories, menswear and a closely integrated public image.

Tisci left Givenchy in early 2017. Burberry appointed him chief creative officer effective 12 March 2018, with responsibility for all collections and the wider creative presentation of the brand. He stepped down at the end of September 2022. His post-Burberry work has included independent creative projects and guest-editing the sixth issue of Boy.Brother.Friend in 2024.

Tisci’s work repeatedly brings dark romanticism into contact with sportswear and street culture. Catholic imagery, gothic ornament, lace, beads and body-conscious cutting sit beside jersey, graphics, trainers and utilitarian layers. At Givenchy, this allowed couture techniques and ceremonial intensity to coexist with clothes designed for music, nightlife and everyday use. He has consistently described fashion as emotional but also wearable, resisting a separation between spectacle and product.

Another recurring concern is the movement between masculine and feminine codes. Tisci has used casting, styling and silhouette to question conventional gender presentation, while building images around a broad creative community rather than a single narrow ideal. His work for Burberry applied the same method to British house codes, setting tailoring and heritage fabrics against darker, younger and more casual references. The continuity lies less in one motif than in controlled contrast: fragility with strength, devotion with transgression, and formal craft with popular culture.