This week Matthew Williams, a 34-year-old American from Pismo Beach, Calif., with no formal fashion training, took the reins at Givenchy in what was the biggest — and only — debut in Paris.

Here, in an interview that has been edited, he talks to The New York Times about what it was like to start in a pandemic and how his background working with Kanye West and Lady Gaga prepared him for the job.

You just had your big reveal. How do you feel?

Really excited, and just happy. My mom came to visit yesterday. I hadn’t seen her in nine months. We just had like a quiet dinner and caught up. This morning I went around to all the studios and just thanked the teams for their help because it was really a mission getting everything done in the past 60 days.

You’ve talked a lot about the fact that even though you have a somewhat unconventional fashion background, you always dreamed of running a big brand in Paris. But you probably never dreamed of running a big brand during a pandemic. So is this a case of be careful what you wish for?

Source: New York Times

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