How do you express “powerful femininity” without resorting to male signifiers like the suit and big shoulders?

This was Sarah Burton’s focus for her sophomore Givenchy show, which saw her bring more of a sexual pulse to the expert tailoring and dressmaking of her dazzling debut via sheer fabrics, peeling and stand-away necklines, short hems, slit skirts and bra tops galore.

She pulled all of this off with remarkable restraint and finesse.

“The world is so noisy,” Burton mused during a preview at her Paris studio earlier in the week. “I like the idea of it being very stripped back still, so there’s a clarity in the way that the woman dresses. It’s not overwhelming her.”

Even if the British designer has yet to show a Givenchy haute couture collection — it is understood she is still bui

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