Patou, formerly known as Jean Patou or Jean Patou Paris, is a French fashion house.

History

The company was originally created by Jean Patou in 1914 and was eponymously named. After his premature death in 1936, his sister Madeleine and her husband Raymond Barbas continued running the business. From 1919 the business designed and produced

haute couture (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design. The term ''haute couture'' generally refers to a specific type of upper garment common in Europe during the 16th to the ...

, ready-to-wear and

perfume Perfume (, ) is a mixture of fragrance, fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), Fixative (perfumery), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agre ...

. In 1987, the haute couture activity was stopped. The same year, the Jean Patou house launched an accessories line, the artistic direction of which was entrusted to Peggy Huynh Kinh. By 1996 the company had closed. Patou was acquired by

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...

in 2001. In 2011 it was bought by Designer Parfums Ltd, a UK-based firm. In September 2018, the LVMH group announced a strategic partnership with Designer Parfums Ltd, assimilating majority shares in the Jean Patou portfolio. As soon as the partnership was announced, LVMH relaunched the brand's couture activity, renamed "Patou", and appointed Guillaume Henry as artistic director. The brand's flagship fragrance, JOY, known since the 1929 crisis as ‘the most expensive perfume in the world’, disappeared so that the name could be reassigned to a new Dior product. The brand's other fragrances were also discontinued.

References

External links

* {{LVMH French fashion French companies established in 1914 LVMH brands