Riccardo Tisci
Former creative director of Givenchy and chief creative officer of Burberry
Riccardo Tisci is an Italian designer who led Givenchy from 2005 to 2017 and Burberry from 2018 to 2022. He is known for bringing a dark romanticism and streetwear influences into luxury fashion and for close ties to music and celebrity culture.
| Role | Former chief creative officer, Burberry (2018 to 2022) |
|---|---|
| Previously | Creative director, Givenchy (2005 to 2017) |
| Education | Central Saint Martins (1999) |
| Born | 1974, Taranto |
| Nationality | Italian |
Who is Riccardo Tisci?
Riccardo Tisci is an Italian fashion designer, born in Taranto in 1974. He became one of the defining creative directors of the 2000s and 2010s through his twelve years at Givenchy and four years as chief creative officer of Burberry. He has not held a publicly announced creative director role since leaving Burberry in 2022.
Career
Tisci studied in Cantù, Italy, and then at Central Saint Martins in London, graduating in 1999. He worked for brands including Puma, Antonio Berardi and Coccapani and had a contract with Ruffo Research before presenting his own collection in Milan in 2004.
In February 2005 he was appointed creative director of Givenchy, and presented his first haute couture collection in Paris that July. He developed a gothic, romantic aesthetic mixed with sportswear and graphic prints, and designed stage costumes for artists such as Madonna. During his tenure the house's couture client base expanded and turnover grew strongly. He left Givenchy in 2017.
In March 2018 Burberry named him chief creative officer, succeeding Christopher Bailey. At Burberry his projects included a collaboration with Vivienne Westwood in his first year. He left in September 2022 and was succeeded by Daniel Lee.
Announcing his appointment, Burberry chief executive Marco Gobbetti, who had worked with Tisci at Givenchy, said that his "skill in blending streetwear with high fashion is highly relevant to today's luxury consumer". Tisci presented his first Burberry collection in September 2018, at a time when the company was seeking to strengthen its luxury positioning after a period of slowing growth.
Influence on the fashion business
Tisci was among the first luxury designers to merge high fashion with street culture on a large scale. His impact includes:
- Graphic T-shirts and sweatshirts as luxury bestsellers
- Close collaborations with musicians such as Kanye West and Jay-Z
- Sportswear partnerships, including several projects with Nike
- Repositioning heritage brands for younger, global consumers
His career also illustrates the pressure on creative directors at listed luxury companies, where design changes are judged quickly against sales and brand perception.
Why it matters
Riccardo Tisci helped set the template for the celebrity-driven, streetwear-inflected luxury that dominated the 2010s. His tenures at Givenchy and Burberry remain reference points in discussions of how creative directors can modernise heritage houses and how long such transformations take to pay off.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Riccardo Tisci?
Riccardo Tisci is an Italian designer who was creative director of Givenchy from 2005 to 2017 and chief creative officer of Burberry from 2018 to 2022. He is known for combining couture with streetwear.
Who replaced Riccardo Tisci at Burberry?
Daniel Lee succeeded Riccardo Tisci as Burberry's chief creative officer after Tisci left in September 2022.