Riccardo Tisci graduated from Central Saint Martins in London in 1999. He then took design positions at Puma, Antonio Berardi, and the Ruffo Research project that incubated a generation of Italian designers in the late 1990s. The Milan show of his own ready-to-wear label in September 2004 caught the attention of Marco Gobbetti.

In February 2005, Gobbetti hired Tisci as creative director of the haute couture, ready-to-wear, and accessories lines for Givenchy, replacing Julien Macdonald. The LVMH-owned house was drifting after a decade of unsettled succession. Tisci’s signature fixed on a dark Roman romanticism. Jersey draped tight to the body, leather harnessing, and sharp tailoring cut close through the shoulder. Religious and animal motifs recurred as graphics printed onto sweatshirts and silk.

The clothes that followed put the Givenchy name back on the rack. Cropped tuxedo jackets, bondage-strapped leather skirts, and paneled sneakers led the run. The Antigona bag arrived alongside the Rottweiler and Bambi sweatshirts that pulled couture-house graphics into street circulation.

Where Phoebe Philo’s Céline argued for restraint, Tisci took the opposite track, courting Mariacarla Boscono, Kanye West, and Rihanna as collaborators and muses. In May 2008, he was appointed chief designer of menswear and menswear accessories in addition to his womenswear role.

Tisci stepped down as creative director of Givenchy in February 2017. The house’s turnover had increased six-fold during his twelve-year tenure. Burberry named him its new chief creative officer effective March 12, 2018, succeeding Christopher Bailey, who had announced his departure in October 2017 after 17 years with the company.

His debut catwalk collection in September 2018 was a re-imagining of the Burberry archive. He updated ladylike pieces from the 1980s, deconstructed the Burberry mac, and sent out handsome suiting among a cohort of wardrobe staples. A new Peter Saville-designed monogram and the revived Thomas Burberry print appeared on bags and silk scarves.

His tenure lasted through September 2022, when it was announced that Tisci would be replaced by English designer Daniel Lee. The arc took a Central Saint Martins graduate from the Ruffo studio to two of Europe’s largest heritage houses on the strength of a single, legible hand.