Who/what is Jean Paton Haute Couture?

R

Rebecca Bartlam

Registered Guest
Hi all
I have been researching online Jean Paton Haute Couture and can find really very very little information. I have found a few French perfume bottles with the name and literally two items of vintage 1950s clothing. There also seems to be quite a few references to one of the Sex in the City girls wearing a yellow Jean Paton Couture by Christian Lacroix to a premier in Tokyo - but I am confused as the same dress is referred to as a Jean Patou dress. I would imagine that it is an error in the info on these pages and it was indeed a Patou dress, as I know Lacroix did work with the label....but what I want to know is WHO IS JEAN PATON?!! Clearly it is a French couture house around in the 1950s, but why I cant I find anymore information? If anyone can help me with this conundrum I would be very grateful!!
 

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"Haute Couture" appearing on the label does not necessarily mean the dress is HC. How the label you are showing is sewn in, is not what one expects from a HC house. The label would be numbered too, either directly on the label, or it would be hidden behind the label.

Hopefully, someone will have more info on the name.
 
Thanks for this Deborah - I have just been doing some more reading concerning HC on wikipedia and it does note that many companies used the term HC but were not officially HC - it also lists the names of previous official HC (Patou included) and Jean Paton is definitely not there ... would still like to know more about the label though if anyone out there knows!! :-) Thanks again x
 
Is this a wedding dress? Could you show the entire garment? I saw only one other Jean Paton and it was a wedding gown from the 60s.
Could have been a small dress shop.
 
I'm actually not in the fashion world, but was attempting to look up a Jean Paton who was referenced in a book I am editing. This particular Jean Paton was a Parisian fashion designer who, some time in the 1920s, took six models to the US - probably to New York - to display his designs. I was amazed to find nothing on him on the internet, and asked the author where he had heard about him. It turned out he had read about Jean Paton in some American fashion books he had ordered through Bibliophile Books, around 10 years ago, he thought.

So it sounds as if the original Jean Paton was indeed in the Haute Couture world. I read a bit about the Jean Paton who designed 1950's wedding dresses, but this is someone different. Sorry I haven't got a book title for you, but hope this gives a useful lead.
 
This sounds like a mistake and the writer has misremembered Jean Patou. It's unlikely that anyone was working in HC and there isn't information about them. Also in the days of Jean Patou, a French couturier would be unwise to start trading under such a similar name, there would be confusion.
 
There is also this reference from a 1959 California publication about a fashion show https://newspaperarchive.com/long-beach-independent-press-telegram-sep-20-1959-p-55/

“Styles were shown by all the leading French designers: Balmain, Carven, Christian Dior, Charles Montaigne, Gres, Guy La Roche, Hermes, Jacques Griffe, Jacques Heim, Jean Desses, Jean Paton, Lanvin-Castillo, Madeleine de Rauch, Maggy Rouff, Michel Coma, Nina Ricci, Pierre Cardin, Revillon, Serge Matte, Givenchy, Raphael Lopez, Catherine Sauve and ( laude Riviere. Air France flew' over 12 French dignitaries, including the mayor of Paris and his wife”

Still definitely could be a spelling error
 
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The construction of the dress is not haute couture. The lining looks like rayon and the understitching is machine. Understitching is that row of stitching on the lining just below the neck edge.
 
Looks like the label from the OP would tie with the Jean Paton from Glasgow, and which wasn't Haute Couture (I guess they called it that on the label to look good) - which had nothing to do with Jean Patou. I think the article Victoria @Vintagiality refers to definitely has a typo and should mean Patou...
 
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