Louise Trotter threw open the doors of her studio — literally — for Carven’s spring show, held above the label’s historic boutique at the foot of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris.
“You’re in my office,” she told reporters after the display on the fifth floor of the building, with glorious views of the Grand Palais and the Eiffel Tower.
Now in her third season, Trotter has reignited the label with her quietly sensual designs. She continued to mine the space between day and night, indoors and outdoors, with full volumes, tactile textures, in-between colors and deceptively simple constructions.
There was an undone quality to long dresses that looked like they were made from a single bolt of fabric, suspended from nude lingerie straps; pinned to the body in origami folds; shaped with ironed-in creases, or pinched into jutting seams.
“The spirit is very common, whether or not it’s a dressing gown or a ballgown,” she said. “She starts to unravel as the collection develops, and it’s this metaphoric feeling of shedding and ease.”
A black tabard with a split down the back was paired with a fishtail maxi skirt and nude slippers, while an oversized white cotton tunic featured a collar that peeled open at the nape of the neck, an intimate gesture that is rapidly becoming a brand signature.
In fact, Trotter’s designs almost always have something going on in the back, whether it’s panels of fabric trailing gently like wings or weighed down with knotted fringe; a pearl chain bouncing off a fuzzy lurex jacquard tunic, or a deep open scoop back on a plain slip.
Carven’s commercial collection is surprisingly faithful to the runway vision. Items on sale for fall include an oatmeal-colored scooped vest in double-faced wool, droop-shouldered tailored jackets, and extra-roomy coats with curved sleeves.
When she’s not working upstairs, Trotter is on the shop floor. “I’m in the store every single day,” she said. “I work on the visual merchandising personally, and I’m building a rapport with the sales team and the customer directly.”
The boutique is currently showcasing a curation of furniture and artworks selected with Joel Muggleton of design studio LS Gomma, and books from the private collection of the creative duo behind Paris Image Unlimited. “We’re not just building a house here, we’re really building a home,” Trotter said.
