Since taking over the reins at Carven, Guillaume Henry has worked diligently at reinvigorating the house’s DNA with nods to its traditional past. For Spring 2013, he took that methodology a further step, mix-matching textures with bold pops of color and shortening silhouettes to almost Thom Browne-esque proportions to create a masterfully witty collection that makes us yearn for weekend jaunts to the seashores of the Hamptons or Deauville.
Debuting at Pitti Uomo, Guillaume opted to showcase his latest work inside of a small track and field stadium, which was the perfect locale for the dash of playful pomp and circumstance Mr. Henry was going for. The setup was a curious one: a Florentine marching band played military tunes as a series of Italian waiters mad dashed across the runner’s lanes with food orders in tow, all the while models strutted across the field to then pose, lined-up side by side, on a dove-white set of bleachers. While that may seem a bit hard to fathom, it did compliment the spirited nature of this collection.
Seersucker jackets with cropped shorts, oxford white sleeves on denim shirts, blue oblong quilted nylon jackets with khaki trims, garden-inspired paisley print shirts with ivory-blue sleeves paired with ankle-high pastel pink trousers stood out as key pieces in the collection. A red-sleeved beige trench, followed by a red-minisquare-print-on-white collarless shirt with an ivory left-breast pocket showed Guillaume’s innate knack at taking even the most basic of silhouettes and injecting the right amount of quirkiness that makes it easily stand out from its peers.
Plaid print short-shorts and shirts were styled with matching ties but made to play ‘background-wear’ with outerwear plaid sweaters and mustard peacoats. A signature-print Carven grey sweater with sewn floral print reminded us of the house’s roots, and how the brand’s matron designer once used a home-chair’s backing to create one of its most recognizable prints. That look would be the watershed moment in the entire collection, a sign that the house’s designer would not be timid in incorporating the brand’s floral past with his forward-thinking vision of male modernity. This garden-floral theme evolved to also include a military green oval-quilted nylon coat with a plant-print backpack, the latter being produced in collaboration with Porter. A white flowerbed print shirt and matching quarter-calf shorts followed by a perfecto green jacket closed the narrative that Guillaume sought to tell; Carven’s rich history is just beginning to flourish and the seeds of stylish contemporism Mr. Henry infused ‘nigh only a few seasons ago are beginning to ripen into something truly interesting to behold.
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