AOC checked in on Tabitha Simmons [IG], who styles actor Anne Hathaway in her Vogue US [IG] August 2025 cover story. Annie Leibovitz [IG] is behind the lens.

Returning to Simmons, who styled Hathaway in Givenchy’s soft botanical print for the Vogue August cover, the stylist explains on her IG that it was Lee McQueen who gave her that critical first shot in her career, styling shoes for Givenchy.

Lee McQueen Gave Tabitha Simmons Her First ‘Big’ Assignment

I was nervous, and totally green but he saw something in me and he didn’t care I had practically no experience except I was pretty good at taking returns back on a bus for Dazed and Confused and had done the odd shoot there.

Adding emotion to the moment, Simmons expresses joy at styling Hathaway in creative director Sarah Burton’s first Givenchy collection.

Sarah Burton Joined Alexander McQueen at Givenchy in 1997

Missing from the narrative is Sarah Burton joining Alexander McQueen’s Givenchy studio in 1997. LVMH had acquired the brand from Hubert Givenchy in 1988. McQueen was the creative director of Givenchy from 1996 - 2001, following John Galliano’s very short time at the helm of Givenchy. Galliano replaced founder Hubert Givenchy, who retired in 1995.

Sarah Burton went with Lee McQueen to his own studio after Givenchy, where she became head of Womenswear and Lee McQueen’s trusted collaborator. Following McQueen’s death in 2010, Sarah Burton became Creative Director of Alexander McQueen and remained in this key role for the Kering-owned brand until September 2023.

In September 2024, it was announced that Sarah Burton would become Creative Director of Givenchy, and we close the circle on why Tabitha Simmons expressed joy over styling actor Anne Hathaway in Givenchy for Vogue’s August 2025 cover. . .

. . . except that she’s got another juicy bit about a famous painting in the photoshoot, shot at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Clever!! And it get its own short post.

AOC shares a shot of the entire Givenchy dress from Vogue Runway.