Guillaume Henry is the new guy at Nina Ricci. He had a good run at Carven, turning a brand virtually unknown outside of Paris fashion circles into a global operation, and very quickly creating signatures that made the label s clothes recognizable and desirable. Nina Ricci is a different proposition; Henry is just the latest designer to take on the creative director role here, and he does so against the backdrop of a Paris fashion week busy with debuts.
As Henry s predecessor, Peter Copping, left things, Ricci was a house known for its femininity. Even when he was making sweaters, Copping gave them a hint of the boudoir. Henry didn t out and out reverse the formula, but he did tweak it significantly, cutting dresses in the straight lines of a T-shirt; restricting the color palette to neutral shades of white, camel, and navy, save for a single fiery red number; and adding pants and coats with the orderliness of military uniforms to the mix. It didn t feel exactly minimal, not with the abundance of lace on the runway. But there was something about the way Henry handled the fabric—crushing and ruching it on loose-fitting shifts—that suggested he was thinking along more casual, less precious lines. Part of what made Copping s Ricci special was the way he romanced a dress. The strength of this collection was the outerwear, boyish in its proportions and boasting painted porcelain buttons imprinted with the house s iconic dove. The collection as a whole didn t quite take off, but many of Henry s instincts looked right: the undone hair and makeup, the classic, low-heeled pumps. We ll be looking forward to seeing how he fleshes out his vision for the label in the coming months.
