Get ready, because PVC pants are everywhere for Fall. While a larger conclusion about what this means for the world and the culture—beyond a certain water-repelling, well-insulated, and perpetually attention-getting appeal—remains evasive, I can tell you from some personal experience that this is not necessarily a bad thing. Though, unlike the pairs that required baby powder and a firm yank that could be picked up in seedier environs than say, Barneys New York, the ones at Carven’s Fall 2016 presentation were slung low on the hip and worn with just enough loose swagger to ensure a certain boyish charm. This is the new cut for Carven, Adrien Caillaudaud and Alexis Martial explained backstage before the show, versus the high and tight “crazy legs” of previous seasons. (Rest assured that those searching for the Catwoman effect will still have plenty of options.)
What a long, strange trip it would be, to Kathmandu and back; who could blame you for losing the plot a bit and falling into a psychedelic fantasyland of crystal caverns and astrological projections? Not Martial and Caillaudaud, whose girl for Fall is part biker chick, part ’60s sweetheart (and in that era, the two aren’t always so different), and more than a little into sci-fi. As usual, the mood board held some particularly groovy gamines, namely Jane Birkin, Janis Joplin, Marianne Faithfull, and Corinne Day–era Kate Moss—and the intended feel was that of a woman who grabbed her bike and set off in search of adventure, wrapping herself in a trim shearling moto jacket, an asymmetrical shearling-collared gray cocoon, or a faux-fur princess-cut topper whose print was inspired by Bengal cats. A-line skirts and dresses in a variety of prints will be an easy purchase for the Carven customer, as will the oversize slouchy knits.
Outerwear has proven to be an arena where Martial and Caillaudaud’s eye for tailoring and awareness of what their client wants to wear really shines. Along with the cropped bombers with shearling collars, a black vinyl trench for the “typical French girl” was both entirely winning and an excellent proposition to combat Paris’s atypical weather movements this week. Lace tops and dresses inspired by motocross attire were similarly appealing, and a thick-soled patent riding boot with one serious, don’t-mess-with-me heel heralded the return of footwear with some oomph behind it. Where things got tripped up was when they got a bit too trippy, as in the case of tops with graphically rendered hands holding floating crystals or the sequined tie-on bibs. But we all have our weird stints; the tomboy babe rides on.
