Jenny Packham has spent a lot of time in Paris over the years. In her apartment, there is now a showroom that caters to brides-to-be and other women looking to dress for special events. It overlooks the British embassy, and she has come to know the place, its history, and its staff. Thanks to one butler, she even got to delve deep into the history of Pauline Bonaparte, aka Princess Borghese, who once lived here. Beautiful and frivolous, she was known to have strings of lovers, and adored causing a stir—a golden cup in the shape of a breast is one relic—and her decorative flair remains.
During a showroom visit—a brief touchdown between visiting clients in China, Turkey, and Houston—Packham observed that the harder the headlines, the more people want to let loose and go all out for special occasions. “People are more experimental at the moment. Hopefully, we got that party vibe,” Packham offered during a showroom visit, half-jokingly describing her process as “an investment and a gamble.”
Indeed, many pieces looked like a party in their own right: A feather-trimmed dress in pale blue sequins comes to mind, as do a few numbers in the season’s key colors of rose-petal pink and mint green. Crystal and fringe lent swing to a tiered gown and shimmy to the white bodice of a black-skirted bustier gown. A shower of gold sequins with an integrated cape made another gown look like an Oscar nominee’s dream date.
Requests are surging for special cocktailwear, and pieces in fully embroidered stretch crepe are proving a hit: This month, Packham will unveil an exclusive capsule collection on Net-a-Porter. “There’s an intimacy with the customer that’s almost like it was when we started 30 years ago,” the designer noted. Today’s younger customer may be wildly different from her mother, but sticking to a niche, not to mention being willing to spend half her life on an airplane, is probably why Jenny Packham makes the new generation of actresses, royals, brides, and fans feel so at home.
