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“Parisian, chic, with a touch of fantasy, couture and humour.” This is how Sophie Brocart describes Patou, the once-sleepy LVMH-owned house whose revival she and artistic director Guillaume Henry have been leading over the past few years. Fresh from showing its Spring/Summer 2024 women’s ready-to-wear collection in Paris, she is ebullient about its prospects in fashion.
“I think down the road Patou can become a big house because of its unique but wearable style and its amazing but little-known heritage,” Brocart tells Vogue Business. Plans include a Paris store, international expansion and doubling down on accessories.
Patou is owned by the world’s largest luxury conglomerate, but it still has to navigate a challenging environment that favours big brands with firepower in marketing and retail. Still, LVMH has made clear its intention to support the smaller brands in its portfolio, not just power players like Louis Vuitton. Sidney Toledano, chairman and CEO of LVMH Fashion Group (which includes Patou, alongside Celine, Loewe, Givenchy, Kenzo, Marc Jacobs, Pucci and Rossimoda) says after the show on Sunday: “When you re in a forest, there are shrubs that can grow alongside big oaks, as long as the soil is fertile.”
“With Guillaume, we studied the brand values: make women beautiful with ease and wearability (he was the first couturier to dress sportswomen), be inspired by culture, be in tune with the times, collaborate with friends,” says Brocart. “He was also the first to put his logo on clothes and we have kept the logo as it was,” she adds. The collection, titled ‘Dancing Diaries’, includes a tangerine crop jacket, skirts made for dancing and lots of rhinestones throughout, taking place on a runway that was like a dance floor with a central DJ booth. “I wanted to explore Patou at a cocktail party and at night. We already showed a lot of daywear,” says Henry backstage after the show at Salle Wagram, a former ballroom in the 17th arrondissement (read the Vogue Runway review here).
“It is a festive and joyful show, just like today’s Patou and also yesterday’s Patou. Jean Patou [who established the house in 1914] invented the modern fashion show as we know it: he gathered all the guests in a single big show that was followed by a party,” says Brocart.
Celebrities and influencers including Christine Quinn of reality TV show Selling Sunset, YouTube star Tessa Brooks and actors Tommy Dorfman and Natasha Lyonne attended. According to social listening site Lefty, the show generated $1.91 million in EMV led by influencers Madeline Argy and Valentina Ferragni and actor Heart Evangelista; roughly in line with the performance of Y/Project, Etro, Isabel Marant and JW Anderson during the Autumn/Winter 2023 shows, Lefty says.
This is only the third Patou show since LVMH acquired the brand in 2018. Before the relaunch, the label had been dormant in fashion for 30 years — focusing instead on fragrances. To promote its return to fashion, Patou focused at first on presentations — starting in September 2019 during Paris Fashion Week. “There was no longer a community around Patou. We had to rebuild a community, therefore we chose presentations. Once we felt ready, once we built a community, we started doing shows,” explains Brocart. LVMH doesn’t break down sales within the fashion and leather goods division, but Brocart says Patou’s sales doubled in 2022 and the brand is seeing strong growth in 2023.
“In a market dominated by big players, there is still room for niche brands with unique ethos to capture the desire of the consumers,” says Mario Ortelli, managing director of luxury advisory firm Ortelli Co. “Patou is one of the oldest couture houses, with a massive archive. It’s one of the first brands that has stronghold in beauty with its memorable fragrances. The successful, well-oiled LVMH platform can further develop this brand in fashion.”
While brands positioned at the top of the luxury pyramid have tailwinds because their customers are more resilient to the pressure of inflation and economic slowdown, Brocart sees Patou’s positioning — at the entry of luxury — as strategic. There’s demand from “a certain local clientele that cannot or just doesn’t want to keep up with ultra luxury”, she says. Patou’s average selling point is €600; roughly in line with that of Jacquemus. (Brocart mentored Simon Porte Jacquemus after he won the LVMH Prize in 2015.)
Wholesale represents three-quarters of total revenue. Stockists include Isetan, Luisaviaroma, Le Bon Marché and Mytheresa (the brand recently released an exclusive summer collection with Mytheresa, accompanied by a campaign starring actor and model Camille Rowe).
Patou counts approximately 200 points of sale worldwide, including four stores in Japan with distribution partners Gruppo Tanaka and Itochu, and one in South Korea with partner LF Corp. More stores in Korea are on the agenda. “It’s a thriving market for luxury, with a global cultural influence and it’s also a first step to China, notably since Chinese tourists visit Korea (as well as Japan),” says Brocart. Expansion in China and the US will be next: the brand currently has a few, highly selective points of sales in China, like SKP in Beijing, and in the US, such as Ikram and Blake in Chicago.
A first Paris store is expected to open early next year. “We [are building] the brand in a cautious, gradual and solid way,” says Brocart.
Following the success of the brand’s first bag — a wicker bucket style seen in Emily in Paris — Patou introduced leather goods last year. The leather Patou handbag (priced at €950) was followed by a smaller version, Le Petit Patou (€590). The SS24 show featured a new handbag, Biscuit, plus variations of the Patou bag like the playful Circle Patou. “Accessories represent a small but growing part of our sales. Ready-to-wear will remain the majority of the business. We are first and foremost a ready-to-wear brand,” says Brocart.
The response to Patou’s revived style of dopamine dressing has been positive since the relaunch. “What I love the most here is the cheerfulness; accessories that make me smile,” said fashion veteran Jean-Jacques Picart after the SS24 show. “It’s very rare today. I know fashion must reflect the zeitgeist, but still, we are happy when fashion lifts us up.”
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