Barentzen

(de) Patrick (1932). French designer. Born in Paris to a noble family of Danish origin, at the age of 18 he began as a draftsman for Dessés, then worked as a model maker for Jacques Fath until that designer’s death. In 1956 he arrived in Italy. In Milan he worked with Fercioni, Jole Veneziani, and Rina Modelli. Along with Monsieur Gilles, he designed hats for Projetti. In Rome, he worked for several fashion houses. His sketches are found in the archives of Schuberth, the Fontana sisters, Antonelli, Fabiani and Simonetta. He designed two Collections for Luciani and Falconetto. He decided to open his own tailor shop on via San Sebastianello in 1958, with the valued cooperation of Monsieur Gilles, the famous milliner and creator of astonishing hats. In 1960 he made his début on the runway in Florence of Palazzo Pitti’s Sala Bianca. His French origin is particularly evident in his stylistic references to Balenciaga. In 1966 he started a line of prêt-à-porter. His association with Monsieur Gilles came to a halt when Gilles decided to open an atelier with Rocco Muscariello, the assistant of De Barentzen known by the name Rocco Barocco. In 1972 he shut down his business and left Italy, never to return.
He is among the participants in an exhibit that Malta dedicated to Italian fashion of the period 1950-1970, a show that moved to the Aldobrandini stables in Frascati a month later. Barentzen was of course also involved in the tribute that the most important boutiques on via Borgognona in Rome paid to Monsieur Gilles, showing the hats of that milliner with whom the Danish designer had been professionally linked throughout the 1950s.