- Hi, British Vogue.
I'm Riccardo Tisci and this is my Life In Looks.
Very emotional straight away.
This is me at three.
This photo's been taken by my father
in front of my house in Como.
This picture is one of the only pictures I've got
that my father took before I lost him.
I've been grown up
with this fantastic eight sisters and my mom.
It was the most beautiful moment of my life
to live with my mom and my sister.
When I was 12, 13, I was very afraid to express myself.
So illustration, art
and everything was expressed became a language.
So this is my Central Saint Martins graduation show
from the young age
I understand I want to express myself with art.
Then I found out fashion was my language.
I came to England, 18, end up to apply for the grant
of Central Saint Martins.
I won and that was my graduation.
So it was the first step
but at the time I never thought I would become successful.
The inspiration was basically this essential strong,
futuristic Italian woman.
So I think I got a lot attention
because it was very different from everybody else.
It was a high heels, it was a lot of sensuality
it was a lot of pattern celebrating woman's body.
And that literally it was the start
of my career because then Coco decide bought a collection.
Then I started having like Bjork, Michael Jackson,
Janet Jackson buying from this shopping Green Street.
And then when I start getting press
and I start getting attention and I start getting confidence
of I could do something with my career.
My first Riccardo Tisci collection.
I graduated at Saint Martins.
My best friend Mariacarla Boscono, she came to my house
in my room because I used to live in Milan at the time
and Mariacarla, she was about to become successful model.
So she saw the collection, she got excited, she said,
"Let's do a show, let's do a show!"
I said, no, no it's impossible.
I cannot do that, I don't have a penny.
And she said, "I'm good to help you."
And Mariacarla with Kara Nelson, Liya Kebede,
Frankie Rayder they made a casting, convincing girls
to do this show for free.
They gave me this like you know, big place,
this big garage outside Milan.
And I did this show at 10:30 in the night
where the invitation was a photocopy
of a picture Mariacarla took by me.
It was a moment where everything was glam.
Tom Ford and Gucci, everything was bigger, big makeups
Baroski [indistinct] did this collection
was very dark, very gothic.
It was called The Procession.
And with this I got so much attention that Givenchy
gave me the opportunity to
become the creative director.
The reality is this, that my mom
she was about to sell the house where we all grown.
That for me was one
of the most tough news that could happen in my life.
It was not beautiful house because we were from,
I come from a very poor family.
Life came this Givenchy proposal
and I was like at the beginning I didn't want to do it.
But then I re-thought about it when they told me
I much will get paid, straight away.
My thought was not even the value of the money
it was the fact that could help to buy the house.
And my mother, she could die in a place where she built
a family out of love with my father.
So that's why I sign the Givenchy contract.
Rihanna is one of the darling of my career
and she was the darling of Givenchy.
Because that was the moment Umbrella just come out.
We had this journey because I was growing
as a young designer and she was growing
as a amazing singer that she is today.
And I think actually this work probably
was her first fashion show that she attended.
We collaborate step by step
the high boots with the t-shirt, the couture brown dress.
We done so many looks
like the cover face at the menswear show
like super oversized men look and the fact
of Rihanna is that she knows how to take a risk.
She feel it and she feel what could be next.
At the time not many celebrity was doing that.
Oh wow.
Shot by Mert and Marcus and Miss Lea T,
a good friend of mine, she's a transgender Brazilian.
At the time was the beginning of a journey.
So we want to celebrate this moment
because I want to support her
and I want to make a statement.
We got a lot of trouble because of this campaign.
A lot of people were not very happy about me
having a black transgender
in a campaign of a couture house.
We fight together as a friend and we won.
We break down boundary, we break down walls
to all the girls to come after to have like, you know
opportunity to have a voice to open the door
for what's coming next.
Rottweiler Collection, that is another historical moment
of Givenchy.
Rottweiler is one of the dog that I really love
and that was where I start bringing like
sport wear on the couture house.
And it was a moment where nobody was talking
about young generation because you come
from a very like a simple family and from nothing.
And I always make sure
that you have a sweatshirt, T-shirt, trainers
enterprise for kids to have opportunity to be part
of Riccardo Tisci/Givenchy dream.
Whoa Madonna!
Superbowl, I think is one
of the biggest moment and achievement for any big artist.
And this actually is one of the Madame Tussaud looks
because it's one of the iconic moment
of her career and she want to do something that was
between Liz Taylor and Egyptian style,
but then it was have to be very Madonna
have to be very contemporary
because she's like me, like you know, she always pushing
she want to break down more and more and more
and she's really helping.
She teach me a lot.
And this was a very emotional moment of my career.
So this is the Bambi Collection at Givenchy.
And this is Irina Shayk.
Anna Wintour told me the first time about her
and I met this girl, ask her to come for casting
and now we become very close friends
and she's inspired me as a woman a lot.
And this was the first show with Irina.
It was very, not a really iconic moment
because of the famous Bambi jumper
[chuckles] Kim at the Met.
She was not included in the list.
She was the plus one of the Met.
Now, it's not a Met without any Kim Kardashian.
She has a very iconic dress.
She was pregnant, which is represent a lot for me.
Pregnancy is something very beautiful
and the fact that it was a dress, that it was all one piece
gloves attached to the dress.
And then the fact the roses which represent femininity.
This moment was iconic because was the time where Kim
she was not accepted by everybody.
I'm so happy that she made it because she's a woman
and she's strong woman and she's a hard worker.
We see how much she achieve in her life and her career.
I'm very proud.
This is like, one of the biggest love affair
I had in my life, Nike.
I was a basketball player first things,
and then I decided to do fashion.
But I had the career as a basketball player.
When I was going to play basketball,
doesn't matter where you come from,
you could wear Nike.
So I felt I was cool when I was 13 and 14.
And this picture is very important pictures
because it's the beginning of couture mix sport.
And I was the first couturier to do a collection with Nike.
Today is, everybody's doing collaboration
that time nobody was doing it.
That is the first time I felt I could really
start writing history of fashion.
The 10-year anniversary of Givenchy.
And we decide to do this show in New York
and ask Marina Abramović, which to help me
my mother slash best friend
to collaborate with me on this show.
The decoration was a recycling wood
and metal from Favelas in Brazil.
It was a lot of hard work.
I want to be very democratic.
I want all the religion to be there,
skin color, everybody, every sexual difference,
everybody to be in one platform like to say we all together.
It was raining and Marina and the scene of the time
was Givenchy.
They came up to me the day before said,
"Probably you have to cancel the show."
And I said, "I'm sure God is going to stay outside."
Two hours before the show, stopped rain
and at six o'clock was an amazing sunset.
And I remember when I come out
on the runway and then people screaming
and I was so shocked and I couldn't believe it.
Beyonce, Queen Bey,
the day before my first show at Burberry,
I've been called to make the company more sensual
and more feminine.
It was the first time that people they were
seeing my interpretation of the heritage check of Burberry.
It was very strong moment because it came the day
before the show and then it was
many other costume that we did for her.
Really big, big moment for the company
and for a tour, was fantastic.
It's easy when you're working with a legend
and with the legend as a friend
because they give you the opportunity to express yourself
and to believe in you.
That is another emotional time.
The first Burberry show, so I'm back to London
not anymore as a student
but as a successful man.
It was really me taking this house very classic
but make it more contemporary.
'Cause I came back to the country that believe in me
and I start to understand I want to be a designer.
So London what help me
is to be not judged and to be just free.
People got shocked,
not everybody understand straight away again.
Because I think in general when something is new
and different, take time to understand.
My mother, is two years ago,
Christmas.
Covid has been a very difficult moment for everybody.
But one thing that was very good is this image.
Because I went back to Italy for a few months
and I had the best three months of my life.
I could wake up and go to sleep every day next to my mom.
93 years-old, an amazing woman.
She always was telling me, "Remember this,
if you do something good forget it.
If you do something bad, remember."
That probably she was not capable to write,
to read properly,
but she was an intelligent woman that she inspired me
and inspired a lot of people.
Billie Eilish,
another voice of young generation that she have
something very strong to say.
This was a big moment that she done with British Vogue.
And [indistinct] falling all the team.
The first behind the shoot was about her always being
very posh and actually she's a very feminine girl.
You can see the images look amazing and the fact
to deliver this femininity and to be not ashamed
and to not be scared, to show way to be sexy and feminine.
Naomi TB,
and this very symbolic image because Naomi,
she's been one of my let's say muse and sister
since the beginning, since Givenchy.
And this where she's wearing a TB.
TB monogram, which is when arrive at Burberry,
one of the things that made a success this five years
it was like, "Okay, we have the trench, we have the check
and then now we have a monogram, we have a TB."
And here is very like, you know
one of the monogram campaign that we shot.
We Danko Steiner, the iconic historical moment
of Burberry because you built a a bigger wardrobe
for house that's got a heritage.
This British woman wearing a monogram collection.
It was very strong, is the future.
Wow. Byork.
I never fought in my life,
to really arrive in my career and dress in Byork
with Burberry for a launch of an album.
I was super proud and I got very emotional when I come out.
It is not only selling clothes, it's not only selling bags
it's really selling emotion to people.
And the reaction on the world was very shocking.
When it came out that so the pictures that my PR
send to my WhatsApp, I was like, "Wow!"
And literally I got tears on my eyes.
So that made me happy because the day I'm not
going to have an emotion anymore of what I'm doing
is about the time that I'm going to holiday
and stay in holiday for good.
Oh, the grand finale.
These amazing beautiful woman and one beast. [chuckles]
It was my last show at Burberry
and was beautiful because I knew what was going to happen
and then all these amazing women
they always been the Belle America, Carla, Irina.
It was a beautiful finale
and a beautiful moment to celebrate.
This picture represents a moment of happiness
which is rare sometimes in society we live today.
I wish I was less scared to show my face before.
For a young generation that is scared to express themself.
If you do really believe in yourself,
what you're doing is very special.
For the next chapter, I wanna take break.
I just moved in in my new house in London
which I'm so proud.
Trying to have a child
and spend time with my family, traveling and simplicity.
Thanks for watching.
[scribbles]
[laughs] Big! [laughs]
[elegant jazz music plays]