Meadow Walker opened the Givenchy autumn / winter 2021 show on Sunday in Paris. The daughter of the late Fast & Furious actor Paul Walker wore the opening look, something of an accolade in fashion terms.
The runway show, which also included Bella Hadid and Jourdan Dunn, was filmed without an audience and presented as a video. It began with the camera descending from the ceiling to Walker, who was clad in all black and bathed in spotlights.
Taking to social media, Walker, 22, thanked Givenchy's creative director Matthew M Williams for including her.
“Exclusive Debut. Opening Givenchy FW21. Thank you Matt for your complete support and determination to safely get me to Paris from NY. Congratulations on your first Givenchy show @matthewmwilliams!” Walker wrote on Instagram alongside a teaser of the video.
“Thank you to everyone involved. Endless gratitude and love for you all.”
As well as opening for Givenchy, Walker also took over US Vogue's various social media platforms, during which she said she was grateful that the show happened without spectators. "I was just thinking if it was completely filled and I was walking on the runway, I'd be absolutely terrified."
This is Williams’s second season for the house, but it is the first time he's used the runway format during his stint for Givenchy. His debut collection, in October 2020, was presented as a series of photographs.
The autumn / winter collection was filmed in the Paris La Defense Arena, under-lit and with a puddle-strewn floor. Walker, who is signed to dna Model Management in New York, wore a sharp, side fastened blazer over an asymmetric, sheer and pleated skirt, along with heavy, almost bulbous shoes.
Her dark hair was cut into a severe bob with bleached white tips, and the model wore heavy eye make-up and bare lips. Williams’s signature chunky, industrial hardware came in the form of a thick chain around Walker's neck, with a metallic buckle on the jacket.
The show as a whole was a journey through the contradictions in Williams's work of lavishness – seen as oversized faux fur coats or leggings encrusted with square sequins – and austerity, captured in black, stark metal and brutalist shoes.
“In many ways, this collection is about a constant tension between two worlds," Williams said. "It’s about finding personal meaning in difficult circumstances; it’s about sincerity in what we do rather than strategy. We wanted to bring a sense of lived reality alongside precision, elegance and extravagance in the clothing and looks.
"Ultimately, fashion for us is a way of being, feeling and connecting rather than a game to be played. It’s almost like monumentalising the everyday, filling it with emotion – like music you can wear.”
For the soundtrack, Williams enlisted house legend Robert Hood to compose the music. As one of the originators of the Detroit sound, he brought his trademark minimal techno to the venture.
Hood said: “The phrase ‘organised chaos’ stood out in my mind upon talking with Givenchy’s team. I immediately began to imagine what that would sound like while keeping minimalism in mind.
"The manifestation is an instrumental narrative of art as it relates to Matthews's vision of fashion. The verbal input, colour palettes and visuals of the space gave me the inspiration and drive for the rhythm of this project."
