‘My surname can be an asset, but it can also be a frustration’: Zoë de Givenchy on her famous fashion in-laws and love of Monty Don

Zoë de Givenchy is having a ‘crazy’ summer. From Nantucket and the Hamptons, to London and Paris, there is nowhere she won’t be this season. Her lifestyle brand, ZdG, which she founded at the beginning of the Pandemic, takes her all over the world. Recently it has taken her to Versailles (ZdG has collaborated with luxury retailer Moda Operandi on their new ‘Le Potager du Roi’ collection).

Zoë’s instantly recognisable surname is courtesy of her husband. ‘It was definitely an “at first sight” thing,’ she says of their relationship. She met Olivier de Givenchy in London at a friend’s wedding. ‘He cut in on a dance, actually, grabbed my free hand and twirled me off,’ she recalls. ‘Afterwards, he followed me to Annabel’s.'

Olivier is a J.P. Morgan banker and the nephew of designer Hubert de Givenchy (1927-2018), who founded the famous fashion house. ‘With a surname like that comes certain expectations and preconceived notions… it can be an asset but it can also be a frustration, so I’m mindful of that with my children.’ Zoë has two children, a 10 year old and a 13 year old with Olivier, and two step children, both in their late twenties, from his previous relationship. It must make for a full house at home in Los Angeles, California, and on visits to their country house in France.

Born in Australia to her mother, an academic, and her father, who worked in real estate, Zoë was the middle child of three and the only girl. The designer has always been creative, but initially sought out a very different kind of career. ‘I always had my own gardens, I was drawing, arranging flowers with my mum,’ she says. ‘I was good at school and I loved debating. If you were bright you were encouraged to do something academic, so I sort of ignored my creative aspect and went to study law before ending up, in a roundabout way, being where I should be.’

‘I always thought that I was the clever one, but never the creative one,’ she says. It was through working in communications and brand development in the legal world, and then London’s banking district, that she came to have her own consulting firm. She sold it when she became pregnant with her first son.

‘I knew I needed to really focus on being a mummy, so that was great timing. Then I had the chance to be creative thereafter, and it’s been a wonderful journey of discovery.’ She says that she now takes this knowledge with her into parenting: ‘I’m careful not to label, because I think we take on what we are told.’

Your aesthetic hero

It has to be Hubert. He was just the best. If you look at his homes and the way that he created such grandeur, he had exceptional taste. One of my favourite things that he’s left for our family is his library. It’s extraordinary. He was a real student of history, art and culture. I remember once he gave me a rock wrapped in twine which was beautiful. He found it in Japan, and I remember thinking about the beauty of small and simple objects.

A possession you’d never sell

The portraits of my children by Julia Condon, who is a painter in London.

An exhibition that has really impressed you

Brâncuși, which was probably in 2024 at the Pompidou in Paris, because it was about creating a world. You got to step into his atelier and it was exceptional.

The last thing of note that you bought for yourself

A new Dior handbag. I’m obsessed with it. It’s wicker and I wear it every day. It’s so beautiful.

Your favourite painting

Those huge canvases by Rothko — in person they are so emotional. I think there was one with magenta and black, which is not a pairing I normally love, and a red and yellow one. It was actually something that surprised me, because I always thought they seemed a bit overrated, but they're extraordinary.

A book you’ve found inspiring

Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I still reference it a lot. I feel like it’s very relevant now. It’s sort of a love story.

The music you work to

This might sound a bit strange, but I change music depending on the weather. On a rainy day I will put on jazz, so it feels like a coffee bar type vibe. On a sunny day I love 1960s and 1970s Californian music. Foggy day: classical.

The last podcast you listened to

A surfing podcast last night. My son made me listen to it, it’s so funny. Pinch My Salt, it’s called. They say ‘bro’ a lot and it’s really Californian. In general, I listen to a whole range. I love podcasts. I like Business of Home, Acquired, The World’s First Podcast, Lipstick on the Rim. I don’t mind a self-help podcast either, like Jay Shetty’s podcast. Also Ruthie’s Table, Mel Robbins's podcast and Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis Dreyfus.

Who would play you in a film of your life

Oh my god, how boring would that be? Um… probably Rose Byrne, because everyone says I look a bit like her and she was also raised in Australia, and she’s funny.

What you’d take with you to a desert island

A coffee machine.

The thing that gets you up in the morning

The school run.

The items you collect

Plants. My latest thing is a Japanese quince. Also, I just love Monty Don. I want to meet him. Whenever I have Gardeners' World on the telly my husband says: ‘Oh my God, you’re going to run away with Monty Don.’

A hotel you could go back and back to

Anything by Les Airelles. Lately we went to their one in Saint Tropez. That hotel group really knows how to do incredible service.

The most memorable meal you’ve ever eaten

The Noma pop up, here in LA. It was nearly emotional, it was so extraordinary. It almost rendered me speechless.

The best present you’ve ever received

My husband bought me a quite rare Cartier pendant from the 70s. It’s called the Golden Fleece and looks like a ram (I’m an Aries). He attached it to a black silk cord and it’s just the coolest thing. He has an exceptional eye.

Visit the ZdG website for more information and to shop.