From the Nina Ricci showroom on Avenue Montaigne, Guillaume Henry confessed that a season of overcast skies was largely responsible for conceiving a collection so motivated by heat, movement, and 1970s African swagger. By fusing the maison’s romantic Parisian heroine with photographer Malick Sidibé’s dapper portraiture and the pulsing sounds of Fela Kuti, he tapped a specific branch of retro flair to arrive at original looks that seduced from all angles.
Often, this meant positioning the designs between luxe and louche, as with a coat in papery eel covered in a wax print of suns, or a chic, unstructured trench birthed from a windbreaker. To balance the sling-back kitten heels and broderie anglaise, he juxtaposed velvet triangle bras and tube dresses that shimmered like city lights reflecting on a wet sidewalk. If houndstooth stirrup pants aren’t an easy sell, his elongating trousers will be. Organza turtlenecks were an unexpected achievement.
Insistent that nothing constrict the body, Henry added stretch to a georgette sheath, simultaneously enhancing it with lightness and cling. He also added slits to velvet skirts, asymmetric vertical seams to the backs of blazers and high vents to tailored coats. Even the athletic chevron shifted around, dropping below the hips as an incrustation on a slip dress or appearing as an overlay on an evening gown. Such a daring color chord of violet, saffron, and electric blue signals Henry’s confidence halfway into his second year as creative director. The collection’s eclectic attitude—whether the sweet baby shells decorating necklines or the oversize fur coat in fox and mink—will resonate not only within this gilded corner of Paris, but beyond it.
