GIVENCHY's doing things a little differently for its NYC runway debut during NEW YORK FASHION WEEK -- it's offering over a thousand members of the general public an opportunity to experience the show first-hand. 820 invitations will be up for grabs today at 10:00 AM EST on a first-come, first-served basis, with an additional 280 having been set aside for students of NYC's fashion schools, and another hundred reserved for residents living near the still-secret venue. It's a powerful, magnanimous gesture, an opening of a typically air-tight, super-exclusive forum that reflects well on RICCARDO TISCI, GIVENCHY's Creative Director. Lots of discussion of HEDI SLIMANE's work in relation to SAINT LAURENT's legacy recently -- less about TISCI's and GIVENCHY's, and I'd argue that RICCARDO is doing an wonderful job of honoring HUBERT DE GIVENCHY's. GIVENCHY was among the first labels to offer a ready-to-wear line as a complement to couture. Though economics surely factored into the decision, there was also an element of wanting to both better serve the customer and reach more of them, making elegance a little more attainable, practical. There's an echo of this ethos in the decision to open to show to the public... RACKED's TAMARA WARREN wrote a sharp piece on how art and fashion feed off one another. She cites TAKESHI MURAKAMI's ongoing collaboration with LOUIS VUITTON as a particularly successful art/fashion crossover, and I would agree -- a neat bit of alchemy relying on both MURAKAMI's art world status and the quality of his design to produce an enduring bit of material culture. It said, "I'm wealthy enough to be able to own a LOUIS VUITTON bag, but hip enough to not want the one my mother had." How you feel about that statement is another matter altogether, but evidently it had resonance... I can't wait to look like RICK RUBIN...