While it’s still early days, Louise Trotter is building a compelling vision at Carven. Her second show, presented in the same raw office space as the first, laid out a thoughtful and assured continuation rather than any sort of pivot, allowing us to get a clearer sense of her intentions.
Without doubt, this is a more mature Carven than recent iterations. From the restrained and tonal palette (a jolt of red or chartreuse notwithstanding) to the masculine-feminine permutations of fabric and shape, Trotter is elevating the brand through both image and positioning. Mind you, her women are neither staid nor stuffy. They wear looks that blur notions of day- or eveningwear and put forth the body in less obvious ways—tops unzipped or slightly undressed from the back. They might also wear dancer’s layers with polished blazers and tailored wrap skirts, part of a laissez-faire approach to ladylike. “I want clothes to be intimate and personal and loved through the way I put them together,” she said.
It’s worth noting that Trotter’s relaunch is not without a nod to the past. “[The collection] is not retrospective, but I want to be honorable and want to do Madame Carven’s legacy justice,” she said, adding that her main takeaway from the archives was the founder’s preference for column and hourglass silhouettes. And you can see how they surfaced throughout the lineup—sometimes simplified, sometimes more exaggerated—and how the majority of these contemporary constructions were precise but also forgiving. A pleated column dress in gray wool; roomy coats worn over full skirts; and softly molded tops over lingerie-style slips all had an elongating effect.
If the collection could be summed up as calm and confident, Trotter also played cleverly with comfort. The bags resembling a flattened pillow had a kind of nondescript appeal, and if the padded ballerina slippers are anywhere as cushiony as they appear, they could prove a sleeper hit of the season. Carven is keeping a low profile for now, but with Trotter’s skills and female sensitivity, the brand is in excellent hands.
