Carving out Carven II

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I'm 'borrowing' this title (well, not technically borrowing seeing as I came up with it…) from an earlier piece I did on Carven back in November for Dazed Digital, where I interviewed creative director Guillaume Henry to find out…well…what the heck is Carven.  I'm quite tickled by the fact that in the piece I did predict this name would be bounced around a bit more for A/W 10-11 and lo and behold, recently, there has been a bit of Carven hype – Suzy Menkes called it a label with 'sense and sensibility' (when will we get together and talk Austen, eh Suzy?), Natalie Massenet of Net-a-Porter threw an introductory bash for Henry, Maria Luisa can't stop raving about Carven and I spy Carven at Browns for next season.  Back to the main point at hand… what the heck is Carven?

It's a French house supposedly most famous for its perfume Ma Griffe but like I said in my previous post beauty dunce here wouldn't know that at all.  Ailing French houses getting a revamp is an all too familiar story but Guillaume Henry seems to have steered it in a slightly different direction, creating directional clothes, but not overly so, that are as Fashionista put it 'Marc by Marc Jacobs' prices (evident by the current collection on NAP).  The New York Times likened Carven to Cacharel (another C I talked about for the new tide of fresh injection) in its price point pitching.  Which brings us back to the A/W 10-11 collection for which I could realistically be saving pennies for if the prices hover around the ¬£300 mark for a dress, ¬£500-600 for a coat and less for all the other bits and bobs, namely the ruched gloves.

Ok, so critically speaking, there are elements of many quite recognisable things compressed into the collection but for a French house that isn't out to make a "lot of noise" as Henry puts it (reflected perhaps in the pricepoints…), I'm not going to nit pick away at clothes that would form pretty sturdy cornerstones in a wardrobe without losing that inexplicable quality that makes you go 'Ooooh…what's that?' when you spy something cute on another girl.  For me, the tale would start to sour a bit, if Carven does start getting lofty aspirations with price hikes… so fingers crossed, a knotted ruched shirt or a super slitted peter pan-collar dress won't just be imaginary lust list items…

Carvenaw1011

26 comments

  4. I’ve been dying to get these clothes in my wardrobe!! Have you been following the story of Carven…? Girls with fashion know-how are perfect for Style Council… glamalert.com/glambassador
    xoxo

  12. Totes wearable, totes covetable, god, what am I? 4? TOTALLY wearable/covetable/have-to-have-able….love it! Uber inspired by this!
    Come check in at fashion westie for my Pointer X Karen Walker Giveaway!

  13. Thanks so much for sharing — very sophisticated and ladylike with a little bit of an edge. Lovely.

  20. Carven did knew a gold era once, but it was past, and the Maison de couture was forgotten for a moment. I am happy to see that they are making a brilliant Come-Back.
    this is probably very trendy to see the rebirth of forgotten french Fashion brands (with Balmain for example)

  23. I’m so thrilled to see this label getting revitalized! I’m loving the new pieces (peter pan collars and high-waisted shorts… swoon!). A couple of years ago, my mother gave me a vintage Carven coat that is one of my most favoritest items in my closet. I couldn’t dig much up on the label at the time, but now there seems to be info aplenty. The Vintage Fashion Guild has a rather detailed retrospective on Ms. Carven herself, the label’s founder, if you haven’t already seen it: http://www.vintagefashionguild.org/VFGSITECA/Madam%20Carvan/VFG_Carvan.html

  24. Thanks Miss Hiccup for the Carven link…. very insightful stuff… when I interviewed Guillaume Henry, he said he wasn’t so interested in delving into the archives which is an interesting route to take… we’ll have to see whether this is sustained though…

  26. i found a 1940’s carven coat in a thrift store, its so amazing. i bought it for 20 bux but i wonder if its worth much more… hey?

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