She added after the show: “For me, it’s just real clothes, honesty, pragmatism, focus on the woman, not too much noise.” Prices will be “mindful” too. “What’s important to me is that the price is relative to the product itself. Craftsmanship is really considered; it has value and is priced at the right price,” she noted.
Carven was founded by Marie-Louise Carven (born Carmen de Tommaso) in Paris in 1945. She and a handful of other couturiers are credited for the development of ready-to-wear. Businessman Henri Sebaoun bought Carven in 2008 and managed to revive it with Guillaume Henry as creative director between 2009 and 2014. Following Henry’s departure, Carven appointed a duo of creative directors, Alexis Martial and Adrien Caillaudaud, who exited in 2016.
That same year, Hong Kong-based distributor Bluebell took a majority stake. Annual revenue plummeted to €20 million in 2017, Reuters reported at the time, citing a source familiar with the business. In May 2018, it filed for bankruptcy. Later that year, the house was bought by China’s Icicle Group (since rebranded as Icicle Carven China France or ICCF Group). The brand declined to comment on current turnover.
Photo: Andrea Adriani / Gorunway.com
In 2021, Icicle opened a Carven flagship store at 6 Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées, the location where Marie-Louise Carven established her Parisian fashion house in 1945. Carven also has 22 stores in China. Trotter said: “I think the [ICCF] group has very strong values that resonate between the two brands. There is a very strong philosophy that comes from the founders of the group, but Icicle is Icicle, Carven is Carven.”
A full Carven rebranding is slated for early 2024. “It’s not just about the collection, it’s everything,” said Trotter. “I will redo the store concept, the logo, and the HQ. It’s just the beginning of the journey.” New stores and wholesale will form part of the strategy for next year. Trotter has a bold vision: “For sure, we want to build a really strong and big house. We don’t want it to be niche.”
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