“I need fresh air,” said Guillaume Henry. “I wanted something very enthusiastic, friendly, beautiful, beautiful, everything about beauty and fashion – and fresh.” Short (usually) and in sugar-sweet pastel colors or graphic monochrome patterns, the Patou collection was called Joy, more for the atmosphere of the word than for the name of Jean Patou’s perfume from 1929, he said. (A quick search on the internet says that this great scent, which requires 28 dozen roses per bottle, is no longer produced.)
It is funny to see how Henry channeled the eighties and 90s by placing young girls in Summer Tweed Minialmirts suits and short cocktail dresses. He said he looked back on the incredible work that Christian Lacroix did for Patou, and at Karl Lagerfeld’s Stint there earlier. There were fashion photos of the Lacroix giggles on the board in his exuberant neo-edwardian Frou-Frou polkadots and flower prints.
Henry’s Hommages were much more coordinated than the really joyful escapades of the 80s. He was at his best when he went for Taffeta Poufs and large bloated bows that apparently floated behind the heads of the models.