In the trio of designer shuffles this season among the houses of Oscar de la Renta, Nina Ricci and Carven, Guillaume Henry, who replaced Peter Copping at Nina Ricci, was the last to present his new vision for a well-established label. Henry’s fall collection for Ricci marked his promotion from plucky advanced contemporary line Carven to the luxury big leagues. It was not a seamless transition.
Copping left an impressive reputation for Henry to live up to at Ricci, having done a fantastic job toeing the line between flirty girlish femininity and adult luxury.
Henry’s proposition was much more weighted toward classics. He seemed to be hitting the reset button with the opening looks — a nice, sturdy oversize peacoat atop a sheer, slim lace skirt; a neat, navy tailored “jeans” jacket and sailor trousers; a hefty fur peacoat shaved to look like patchwork, and a sequin T-shirt and matching pencil skirt — establishing a stable, neutral baseline on which to build. But the collection never gained momentum.
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Henry repeated the same silhouettes throughout the lineup, adding long decorative fringe over tailored coats, showing T-shirt dresses in delicate pleated lace. A patchwork cable-knit sweater here, a slipdress with feathers there. Show notes stated a mission of capturing “sensuality and poetic charm without ever being overbearing.” Perhaps that was too passive an attitude to take, but first rounds can be intimidating. Hopefully Henry will gain confidence with time.