Couture House Jean Patou Set To Reopen

Couture  house Jean Patou - which through its history has been helmed by designers including Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Paul Gaultier and Christian Lacroix - is being re-launched.

"We already have plans," the label's vice president, Bruno Cottard, told WWD. "We have ideas and know what sort of fashion we would like to do - and have even consulted designers, who are all excited… for them Patou is an enormous reference."

Jean Patou

Patou established his couture house just before the advent of the First World War but shuttered it to serve in the French army. Following the war, he reopened the house and became known as an innovator, helping to move fashion on from the flapper look with the creation of longer hems and sleeveless dresses. He is considered the inventor of the tennis skirt and was also the first designer to popularise the cardigan.

In 1928, Patou created "Huile de Chaldée", the first-ever sun-tan lotion. When he died in 1936, his sister and her husband continued the label, with its survival owed mostly to the popularity of its fragrances - in particular "Joy", which is still produced today. In 1987, the label's then-designer Christian Lacroix left to set up his own couture house, and the brand was closed.