It looks as if Guillaume Henry has honed in on precisely which sort of French woman he want the Nina Ricci brand to embody. She is the one with the long and lean figure who survives on sarcasm and cigarettes. She is chic. Everyone is her friend but no one truly knows her. She is alouf, elegant and rich. She is desirable and unattainable. A bourgeois muse of the ages.
This season Henry wanted to warm up this woman by imagining that she is in love. Soften her cool facade with hues like dusty lavender, olive green, teal and the color of love ― red. Telegraph a liquid sensuality in pieces cut from Lamé velvet or coated with sequins. Or stoke flames of desire with lace slip dresses bound to strips of lacquered leather (or was it snakeskin?) and stretch silk georgette tops worn without bras so perky breasts stand at attention from the gentle friction of the fabric against bare skin.
If the crop skiwear inspired trousers and front split pencil skirts felt a bit forced, Henry made up for them with a wide rang of great coats. Including those with double seems down the back that lifted the coat into a more sculptural three dimensional shape. Then there were the colorful fur coats that also played with dimensionality with the designer creating a tone in tone patchwork effect by sectioning of parts of the fur into longer or shorter hair lengths.
Henry is finally moving the Nina Ricci brand in the right direction with this collection. His woman might be haughty but she is also very very hot.