If you could bottle French insouciance, it'd smell like Carven. For pre-fall, Guillaume Henry took his cues from Isabelle Adjani in the 1976 Roman Polanski film The Tenant. On the studio wall, a video of a cat lolling around on rumpled white bedsheets played, and the models took turns perching on a pile of new mattresses. The clothes were just as irreverent. Models wore thick ribbed tights with winter sandals and tossed oversize sporty parkas on top of adorable narrowly cut lace dresses. Skirtsuits, a Carven staple, came in awkward chic proportions, with hand-knit sweaters underneath, or they were cut with arching hems that revealed a hint of thigh. This season's clever print was inspired by Jacques Villeglé, the man behind Françoise Hardy's album covers. Describing the look, Henry said, "She's creative in the way she mixes things together, she likes texture, and doesn't care about the right shoe with the right bag."
He definitely got things right this season. One of Style.com's most die-hard shoppers left the presentation saying it was exactly how she wanted to look at fashion week next month.
