“We know we’re a small maison, small but mighty,” said Mark Thomas ahead of his headlining debut at Carven. In its 80 years of existence, the house has maintained a lower profile compared to the giants, so amidst some mega runway productions elsewhere, being invited into Carven’s HQ made for an intimate counterpoint. Models started off in the courtyard, walked through the lobby, emerged briefly outside on the Rond Point des Champs-Élysées and finally headed into the store, all white and emptied out like a gallery.
Today was not Thomas’s first show for the brand—he accompanied Louise Trotter through the entirety of her stint at Carven—just his first in the driver’s seat. Now that Trotter has jumped to Bottega Veneta, this collection brings his vision to the fore.
As he sees it, this is the “second chapter” of their combined era, and one of the most noticeable departures was the shift in silhouette focus: his tailoring grazing closer to the body, his states of undress tapping into a more effortlessly Parisian déshabillé.
“It’s a very feminine dial up,” Thomas said, explaining how he applied the notion of a house to the wardrobe itself. Hence the pillowy flip-flops, the lace-edged slip dresses worn over base layers and the theme of French bed linens and tablecloths interpreted as garments—and some of these were edgier as vinyl backed with satin.
Several looks—including a subtle print on silk, a floaty jacquard dress and more generally in some of the undulating shapes—could be traced back to a white orchid that Madame Carven developed with a botanist, Marcel Lecoufle, in 1993. While florals have seemed anathema to the brand’s streamlined aesthetic, these abstracted variations were softy rendered and unobtrusive.
Thomas has a solid eye for outerwear and among standout pieces was the safari-style jacket with zipper accents and ruffled trims that riffed on the sculpted “Esperanto” silhouette, something of a Carven signature along with his summery trenches. Pearls poked out as cufflinks and around the cuffs of cable knits—just the kind of easy embellishment that elevates a look.
Most of all, there was a pleasing sillage—that French term often associated with fragrance and the trail it leaves when someone passes by. Whether the hint of a bra from shirts unbuttoned at the back or trousers constructed with floaty panels, this made the difference between clothes that were a touch sensual versus strict.
The soundtrack revealed how Thomas injected a personal flourish that also reflected the women-forward purpose of the brand. Macca, the host of a breakfast program on NTS radio (a British platform) recorded an introduction that gave way to a wide sampling of female music artists, like listening to someone’s playlist at various points in her day. The tracks conveyed summer yearning, no question, but also a soulful vibe to Carven that hadn’t come through until now.
With the stakes so high this season, Thomas has proven two strengths: welcoming and wearable. While he already benefits from an on-site atelier, with the means to do more, he could really put the house on the map.
