LONDON — Patou’s creative director Guillaume Henry has dreamed up a world of cotton candy pink for its collaboration with Onitsuka Tiger.
At the Japanese sports fashion brand’s Regent Street store in London, the designer has curated an immersive exhibition that replicates a teenage girl’s bedroom.
Slots to see the free exhibition in November have already booked up and so far more than 10,000 people have registered to see the intimate showcase, which runs until Dec. 22.
Patou’s exhibition with Onitsuka Tiger.
Getty Images for Patou
Everything is pink — the walls, bedsheets, carpets and even the vanity desk and vinyl of Destiny Child’s “Bootylicious.”
“We wanted to portray the apartment or the bedroom of the woman who’s actually into this product,” said Henry in an interview.
His own bedroom or childhood looked nothing like the one he’s created at the Onitsuka Tiger store. He grew up with two older brothers and he wore a majority of their hand-me-downs.
“I remember when I was a teenager, I liked to spend quality time in my room creating my own world. I liked pillows and friendly lighting — it was almost like a nest,” said Henry, sitting on a pink beanbag that added comfort to the space.
The Patou and Onitsuka Tiger collaboration.
Getty Images for Patou
“When we finished the space, it was a beautiful set, but then I had a feeling that something was missing and it was a mess, so we jumped on the beds and we spread the shoes all over the place; it just looks more real,” he explained, pointing to the disorderly pile of old magazine copies of L’Officiel, Virtual Idol and Japanese Olive.
The designer said he didn’t discover fashion magazines until he left his small village in France, but would often find the style pages from the “mature magazines” that his parents were reading.
The charmingly pink exhibition reflects the collection of footwear and separates in the collection: hoodies with long ribbons instead of strings; T-shirts and short socks with frilly details, and caps and beanies with Patou’s brand logo and the Onitsuka Tiger tiger.
Henry has also redesigned the Japanese brand’s signature Mexico 66 and Mexico Rinkan shoes with his own youthful touch of stripes of pink and a ballerina version of the Mexico 66.
The Patou and Onitsuka Tiger collaboration.
“Pink for me, it’s really about Patou because it’s a friendly color. I don’t see pink being girly. I see pink being a classic and I like to see pink almost like any regular color that you’d use like a black, navy or white. I [also] think it’s a very enthusiastic color,” said the designer.
Henry can’t pinpoint exactly when the conversations around the collaboration started. “It was just meant to be,” he said, adding that he has deep respect for Onitsuka Tiger and to combine their sportswear knowledge with Patou’s couture savoir-faire was a compelling proposition.
“As a designer, I always say to the team that a good dress should be able to be worn with both stilettos and sneakers,” he said.