James Claude Taffin de Givenchy was born and raised in France. Givenchy grew up in Beauvais, a small town in the suburbs of Paris where the Parums de Givenchy had its factory and where his father Jean-Claude Taffin de Givenchy and Uncle Hubert James Taffin de Givenchy, the renowned fashion designer, were born. James is one of seven children.

Givenchy moved to New York in the early 1980s. With a degree in fine arts, he went on to study graphic design at Mahattan’s Fashion Institute of Technology and subsequently let jewelry efforts at Christie’s and Verdura. He founded his own jewelry concern in Manhattan in 1996.

Givenchy’s designs are sculptural with a special emphasis on fine craftsmanship, and his inventive style lends each piece a sense of whimsy and adventure. His pieces almost always are one of a kind.