LVMH tasks designer Guillaume Henry with reawakening Jean Patou

By

Sarah Ahssen

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Sep 24, 2018

“The LVMH group confirms it has acquired a majority stake in couture and fragrance label Jean Patou.” With these words, the world’s luxury goods number one has officially confirmed, on the first day of the Paris Fashion Week, the news reported last July by FashionNetwork.com. At the same time, LVMH announced that Guillaume Henry has been picked as Jean Patou's new creative director.

As reported by WWD, Guillaume Henry, who worked at Puig until last March, as creative director first of Carven and then Nina Ricci, has now been tasked by LVMH with promoting the rebirth of Jean Patou, the French couture and fragrance label founded in 1912.
 
Dilesh Mehta, CEO and founder of Designer Parfums, which bought Jean Patou in September 2011, signed a strategic agreement with LVMH in 2017. At the time, he said to FashionNetwork.com: “We think it's vital for Jean Patou to grow its fashion business, and no one is in a better place to do so than the LVMH group.”

To revive Jean Patou’s couture heritage, an activity which ceased in 1987, the label has therefore joined the LVMH Fashion Group, the French group’s subsidiary headed by Sidney Toledano which oversees Celine, Fendi, Givenchy, Pucci, Kenzo and Loewe.

While Jean Patou was born as a fashion house, nowadays it is best-known for its fragrances, notably Joy, a perfume created in 1930 which, in its heyday, was one of the most expensive in the world. Meanwhile, on August 20, Christian Dior, another label owned by LVMH, launched a new women’s fragrance called Joy de Dior. Sheer coincidence, or a nod to the latest newcomer to the luxury goods giant’s stable?