Givenchy Uses Only Asian Models At Haute Couture Show (PHOTOS)

Givenchy Creative Director Riccardo Tisci can't resist making statements with his model choices -- he introduced transsexual beauty Lea T. to the fashion masses and cast albino hunk Stephen Thompson in the brand's spring campaign. And now, at his Haute Couture show in Paris on Tuesday, he used exclusively Asian models to present his Japanese-influenced collection.

From the press release:

The Spring/Summer 2011 Givenchy Haute Couture collection by Riccardo Tisci draws its primary inspiration from Japan and particularly the work of the late legendary Butoh dancer Kazuo Ohno. Ohno's art was defined by languid, melancholic yet powerful choreography and a distinctive masculine/feminine contrast. At once fragile and flamboyant, Ohno's characters were often female and always forces of nature.

To crystallize his vision, Riccardo Tisci chose the crane, a symbol in Asian art and cross-cultural harbinger of good luck and immortality, which he offset with elements borrowed from the hard-edged, futuristic world of Gundam fighters. The result is a collection of 10 ensembles that appear delicately romantic when seen from the front, but are grounded by a technological, robotic charge in fluorescent yellow or fuchsia when viewed from behind.

Check out images of Givenchy's newest get-ups.

(All photographs courtesy of Givenchy.)