U-Lock Blazer — Black, Size FR 34 / US 2

Matthew M. Williams became creative director of Givenchy in June 2020, and the U-Lock jacket, launched in early 2023, is among the pieces most closely tied to his tenure. The house built its name on the elegant silhouettes of its early years, with closures that stayed out of the way. This blazer reverses that logic: a single piece of silver-finish metal takes over the work of a button row, and the cut stays quiet so the hardware can carry the argument. It sits apart from the house's button-fronted jackets because the fastening is the design itself, not a detail added to it.

The jacket is cut in wool with a structured, slim line, long sleeves and notched lapels. At the front, a silver-finish metal U-Lock buckle does the closing, a lock-shaped fastening in place of the usual buttons. Seaming stays discreet and the detailing minimal, which leaves the buckle as the one thing the eye lands on against the black cloth. The silver tone of the metal reads cleanly against the dark wool, and nothing else on the surface competes with it. It was made in Italy.

Read it as a hybrid: an office blazer fitted with a security device, closer to a vault door than a row of buttons. The notched lapels and slim cut say boardroom, while the lock says something less polite. It works as formal tailoring that is slightly defensive and slightly dangerous, and it needs nothing else added to it. Size FR 34 (US 2).