Having worked for Joseph and more recently Lacoste, the British designer will take charge of Carven’s style. Her refined and sportswear vision should refresh the House, whose collections were designed in-house since 2018.
Carven has chosen the British Louise Trotter to take over the reins of its style. She thus gives a new face to the House’s creation, owned since 2018 by the Chinese group ICCF (Icicle Carven China France). The same year, Serge Ruffieux left Carven, whose collections had since been designed by the studio in-house.
In the meantime, its new owner had given the brand a new showcase, with the opening of a flagship store on the Champs-Elysées roundabout, the brand’s historic location, and an online store.
Creating a buzz again
By attracting Louise Trotter, Carven has given itself another chance to create a buzz.
The designer had already begun to be noticed for her sportswear and minimalist style as artistic director of the English brand Joseph, from 2009 to 2018. She was then appointed to the same position at Lacoste, which she marked with her fresh vision before announcing her departure last January.
She will unveil her first collection for Carven at the spring-summer 2024 show at Paris Fashion Week this September.
“I feel honoured to be writing a new chapter for Carven: a young French house that embodies for me a spirit of freedom, joy and confident femininity,” she said. I look forward to respecting Madame Carven’s legacy by creating clothes with a new simplicity that are both useful and beautiful, while being respectful of people and our environment.”
Return of a woman with style
It had been 1993 since a woman had bent over her cradle. That year, Carmen de Tommaso, the founder of the label, retired, and the contract of Alejandra di Andia (or Sulitzer), whom she had appointed in 1992 to succeed her as Haute Couture designer, came to an end. Since then, several men (Angelo Tarlazzi, Edward Achour, Pascal Millet...) have designed ready-to-wear for Carven, which has passed through the hands of different owners. Guillaume Henry‘s stint from 2009 to 2014, now the artistic director of Patou, was praised for bringing modernity and desirability to the House.
Will Louise Trotter be the new Carven fairy? Shawna Tao, CEO of the ICCF group, has no doubt. Her “values and open-mindedness” make her, in her eyes, “the perfect candidate” to “lead this 70-year-old fashion house into a new and exciting future”. For this “talented designer” has “the conviction and know-how to create striking clothes with a unique understanding of what luxury and sportswear mean today”.
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