LVMH’s stealth capture of Jean Patou

[tatouejeremie]

LVMH is close to acquiring a new perfume brand, Jean Patou, for its portfolio and has done it very much on the quiet.

The giant French conglomerate took management control of Patou last year without any fanfare from Designer Parfums, a UK group based in Watford north of London, which is owned by Mehta business family.

Already on September 6, 2017, the board of Jean Patou appointed Sidney Toledano to be its new chairman, replacing Nikita Mehta, the 28-year-old daughter of Dilesh Mehta, the CEO and founder of Designer Parfums.

A LVMH board member, Toledano was at the time the CEO of Christian Dior. In January he became the President of LVMH Fashion Group, which controls a series of important fashion houses including Céline, Fendi, Givenchy, Pucci, Kenzo and Loewe.

Moreover, Jean Patou’s headquarters are now listed at 24 rue Jean Goujon, also the location of LVMH’s Fashion Group main headquarters. While Nikita Mehta is now listed on her LinkedIn page as a Project Assistant Manager for LVMH.

Spokespeople for LVMH and its Fashion Group both declined to comment on the acquisition. While Toledano did not respond to repeated calls.

However, Dilesh Mehta confirmed to FashionNetwork.com that Designer Parfums is close to inking a strategic partnership with LVMH, to split the ownership of the famed perfume house.

“I have signed an NDA and cannot say anything more. This should be completed in September. We believe that it’s vital for the future growth of Patou that we develop a fashion department, and nobody is really better at that than LVMH,” said Mehta.

The attractions of a brand like Patou are multiple to Bernard Arnault, the chairman and controlling shareholder of LVMH, whose perfume and beauty division already includes Christian Dior, Guerlain, Acqua di Parma, Make Up For Ever; the perfume businesses of its designer houses Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton and Kenzo, as well as the giant scent and beauty retailer Sephora.

A legendary perfume brand dating back to 1912, when founder Jean Patou opened his fashion house, before closing it during World War I, and reopening it after he returned from the front.

A true dandy who is credited with creating the first designer ties, Patou launched his perfume business with three scents in 1925. A noted innovator, his Huile de Chaldée is often referred to as the first suntan lotion. However, the best-known perfume of Patou, who died in 1936, is Joy, a rose and floral scent that was at one stage the costliest perfume in the world.

Moreover, Patou is a famous French label which has not been sullied by over-expansion in grey markets; and boasts a brilliant reputation. In 2000, the FIFI Awards, the Oscars of perfume, named Joy the “Scent of the Century,” beating out rival Chanel No. 5. The house of Patou also has a very credible fashion DNA, since such noted designers as Karl Lagerfeld, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Christian Lacroix were all at different stages its designer.

Designer Parfums, which acquired Patou from Procter & Gamble in 2011, still controls a stable of perfumes including Frédéric Fekkai, Naomi Campbell, Jennifer Lopez, Parfums Scherrer, Worth, Porsche Design, Ghost and Manish Arora.

Back in 2013, Patou’s previous president Bruno Cottard revealed plans to reintroduce fashion, but this did not happen. Expect that to change pretty rapidly when the LVMH deal is completed.

This partnership will also complete a circle. Patou exited fashion when its then-couturier Christian Lacroix quit the brand to found his own house in 1987. The name of his backer? Bernard Arnault.

source: fashionnetwork.com

 

[Lola701]

It’s getting ridiculous at this point...
Who’s next? Jean Desses? Grès? Robert Piguet?
Considering the success of niche fragrances, the return of Jean Patou as an exclusive perfume brand with a big return for Joy could be good....

But unfortunately, I can already smell another full relaunch with RTW and all. They should try to make Dior great again before polluting the industry with another brand revival...

 

[Mr-Dale]

Wait, this can't be a coincidence, no?

thefragranceshop.co.uk

 

[madame_georgiana]

^I thought the same thing when I was reading about it in the September issues and none of the fragrance blogs I followed had said anything yet.

 

[tatouejeremie]

LVMH Resurrects Jean Patou with Guillaume Henry at the Helm

Guillaume Henry is coming back to Fashion Week, resurrecting the Jean Patou maison with LVMH’s backing. The former creative director of Carven and Nina Ricci was hand-picked by LVMH’s Sidney Toledano for the role and is expected to debut his vision for Jean Patou in 2019.

As far as brand revivals go, this one is a long time coming. Established in the 1910s by French designer Jean Patou, who hailed from a family of tanners and furriers, the brand became a dominant force in the Parisian and American fashion scenes following World War I. During the interwar years, Patou introduced a number of innovations in women’s and men’s clothes, most famously a collection of longer hemlines from 1930 that is credited as revolutionizing the look and feel of prêt-à-porter in France and abroad. Along with Coco Chanel, his great rival, he introduced a languid fluidity to women’s clothing, designing tennis costumes for Suzanne Lenglen and popularizing knit cardigans and swimwear. As a rebuttal to the strictness and formality of the couturiers, Patou famously sailed to America to scout models, returning to Paris with a band of six tall, lanky Americans with a decidedly more casual, sporty look than their tightly-laced European counterparts. (A scandal at the time, the French press accused him of lacking national pride.)

Patou died prematurely in 1936, though his brand survived through many iterations. Marc Bohan helmed the label from 1954 to 1956, Karl Lagerfeld designed it from 1960 to 1963, Jean Paul Gaultier was its steward from 1971 to 1973, and Christian Lacroix created fanciful collections under the Jean Patou label from 1981 to 1987, when he left to establish his own brand. Aside from ready-to-wear, Patou was famous for its fragrances, particularly Joy, which was one of the most popular scents of the 20th century. (When the Jean Patou brand was acquired by LVMH from Designer Perfums, the sale included the ability to use the name Joy for a Dior fragrance fronted by Jennifer Lawrence.)

Model wearing black lace dress with asymmetrical hemline, flowers at fitted hip, and back-scarf, designed by Jean Patou
Henry is no stranger to breathing new life into interwar Parisian brands. At Carven, he was celebrated for his updated, youthful takes on Madame Carven’s spritely sportswear. His Nina Ricci designs, while not critically lauded, found fans in celebrities from Beyoncé to Gigi Hadid.

why???? and why him?

 

[GivenchyAddict]

Why???? Elbaz has been robbed

 

[Lola701]

^^
Alber for Dior yes, not for Patou. I don’t see him having to go through the process of starting everything from scratch like at Lanvin.

Guillaume Henry for Patou?
Patou is not a name that resonate to people so I expect something totally fresh and new.

I loved his work for Carven but he failed at Ricci.

 

[perhydrol]

Wow, I would never expect Henry at Patou and to be honest I don't expect some great things from him anymore, I mean his Nina Ricci was pretty bad so... but we'll see.

 

[GivenchyAddict]

^^
Alber for Dior yes, not for Patou. I don’t see him having to go through the process of starting everything from scratch like at Lanvin.

Guillaume Henry for Patou?
Patou is not a name that resonates to people so I expect something totally fresh and new.

I loved his work for Carven but he failed at Ricci.

Well my dear Lola, it is better to have scratch as a start than have the heavy archives of Raf and MGC at Dior . Patou was a fabulous designer that could work with Elbaz's aesthetic.

 

[dodencebt]

"His Nina Ricci designs, while not critically lauded, found fans in celebrities from Beyoncé to Gigi Hadid."

This made me laugh so hard.

 

[Lola701]

Well my dear Lola, it is better to have scratch as a start than have the heavy archives of Raf and MGC at Dior . Patou was a fabulous designer that could work with Elbaz's aesthetic.

Fair enough but it could be also very close to Lanvin.
At this point, Dior should start from scratch with Alber
And he should bring Elie Top back!

 

[reesewu]

"His Nina Ricci designs, while not critically lauded, found fans in celebrities from Beyoncé to Gigi Hadid."

This made me laugh so hard.

Lol they must have worked overtime to find at least a semblance of compliment for his tenure at Nina Ricci .

 

[dodencebt]

Lol they must have worked overtime to find at least a semblance of compliment for his tenure at Nina Ricci .

Right?! And "found fans" in Gigi and Beyoncé, like they weren't gifted the things they wore.

 

[HeatherAnne]

I actually liked Henry's tenure at Ricci, but yes, agreed, the celebrity fan thing (particularly the mega stars they named) is a stttttttretch.

I didn't realize he left in March until I was searching for the Nina Ricci show and realized they didn't do one.

 

[tatouejeremie]

Patou

at least no sans serif logo for a change, clothes look like expected

 

[Benn98]

This resurrection rubs me up all wrong. Especially when you consider the recent fall of Poiret.

Anywhoo, a pic of the new logo:

Patou.fr

 

[Norden]

Yeah it all immediately reminded me of poiret

 

[Lola701]

I actually like the pastry thing and how cute the whole thing looks so far.
I hope for LVMH that they are going into the contemporary market with this relaunch. Part of the success of Henry at Carven was the pricing.
I like the new logo. Thank god it’s not in Helvetica!