EXCLUSIVE: Ruth Negga, Pauline Chalamet Star in First Patou Short Film

PARIS — Had it not been for films, Patou’s artistic director Guillaume Henry might have never started designing.

That’s why his latest project, releasing Friday on social media, is a five-minute short film nodding to his love for the silver screen, and the French New Wave era in particular.

Filmed in Paris in the run-up to Christmas, “Tell Me More” features Pauline Chalamet, who also serves as producer for the short, Franco Swiss actress Irène Jacob, “Passing” star Ruth Negga, and Lily Taïeb, who was spotted in “The French Dispatch.”

“I started loving fashion through cinema because that’s how I access clothing’s ability to help you become someone, and I’m always looking for ways to humanize clothing,” he tells WWD.

“The reality of clothing is outside of fashion in my opinion and I like speaking to people,” he adds. “You speak to people when you’re on the street — or through a film.”

While it serves as a teaser for Patou’s fall 2025 show, slated for Jan. 26, it also signals the brand’s interest in developing and supporting projects reflecting its connections to cinema.

Henry was therefore keen that the project should be a proper film, down to the wardrobe, which isn’t all about the upcoming season — or even fresh-off-the-shelf items.

Costume designer Pauline Jacquard was given free rein to blend clothing from previous seasons with fall 2025 pieces such as a red jacket seen on Taïeb and boots sported by Negga.

“It’s what makes [the film] feel alive, otherwise it would look like an advert,” Henry says. “In real life, clothing is only new when you’re coming out of the store with your little carrier bag.”

For Henry, the project is a natural follow-up to the film inspirations that have colored the past couple of seasons. But what made it come to fruition was the friendship he struck up with Chalamet after she attended his fall 2023 show at La Samaritaine.

“I realized that he thought in a different way when we talked about fashion,” the actress recalls. “His inspirations don’t come from other designers or clothing — things that are very abstract to me — but were filled with references that I do understand. That’s what made me feel there was a soul [to Patou].”

Chalamet, who is the elder sister of actor Timothée Chalamet, is a cofounder of production company Gummy Films. She stars in Mindy Kaling’s hit comedy series “The Sex Lives of College Girls” and is set to appear this year in “Between the Temples,” a comedy drama directed by Nathan Silver.

Their conversations brought to light a shared love of the classics of French cinema and turned into a three-way creative partnership with the addition of film director Rhys Raiskin, who is also Chalamet’s partner in life.

“We set out to create a piece that feels both cinematic and natural where the clothes seamlessly belong, rather than a film that focuses solely on fashion,” Raiskin says.

From there, there was no question for the trio but that it should take cues from their all-time favorite — Agnès Varda’s “Cléo from 5 to 7” — for its narrative structure as much as its wardrobe.

“The reason why it resonates with all of us that fashion is a kind of fortune-telling. You see a piece and you consider how you will look, what people will think, and you project these visions of who you could be through [clothes],” Raiskin adds. “It was really interesting to tie it together and allow a film about fortune-telling to play a subtext about what fashion does.”

Chalamet felt the result nods to Patou’s long history of artistic collaborations, such as the one between founder Jean Patou and Joséphine Baker. “I’m grateful to have been given the space to combine three things I love: friends, film and fashion,” she says.

The trailer for “Tell Me More” will drop on Friday on social media and the Patou website, ahead of the film’s release in three installments starting Monday.