Nina Ricci: Beau geste

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Sep 29, 2017

We got the Foreign Legion mixed up with Don Quixote at Nina Ricci in a breezy and witty show staged with great gusto before Napoleon’s tomb.
 

Presented underneath a circus tent, the cast marched on the beige dusty dirt that has forever exasperated millions of tourists to Paris. Ideal however for the collection’s key concept.
 
In the end this was a hit and miss collection: boasting some splendid lace tops and blouses finished with officers' epaulettes; a series of great safari jackets, which the French call Sahariennes, with V shaped flap pockets; colonial shorts that finished at the knee; and dramatically splayed cotton corporal’s pants. All very suitable for a date with Gary Cooper.

The Cervantes chic was less appealing – notably the ungainly peak shoulder opera coats and abstract print lace dresses covered with mini feather boas that did not quite work.

Using the Three Graces print and a smart reworking of the historic NR logo did look clever; and one had to love the finale. When to the giant chords of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony the cast exited the tent and stood before Napoleon’s giant mausoleum as designer Guillaume Henry took his bow before them.