CAL Collaborative worked closely with Creative Director Mathew Williams to conceptualize a runway set for Givenchy’s Women’s SS24 show in Paris. Inspired by the house of Givenchy’s legacy of tailored dressmaking, the project explores the relationship between structure and fabric from an architectural lens.

The PVC skin is leveraged into both a weatherproof skin and a finish that guests can experience from both the interior and exterior. Suspending the fabric via an alternating rhythm of taught cables showcases PVC’s unique material properties: double curves result in a seamless amorphous form, and semi-transparency allows diffuse, optimal light to filter throughout. The setting sun, drifting clouds and soft breezes animate the tent skin, creating an ephemeral and dreamlike world for the models to inhabit.

Sourcing from a catalogue of modular tents, Calatrava chose a standard configuration, then inverted the typical assembly of structure and skin by suspending the fabric within the exposed metal frame. The result - a white, billowing cocoon encased in a metal cage - mirrors the themes Williams is known for in his collections: the intersection of luxury and utilitarian design.