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Photography by Marie-Béatrice Seillant
Carven
By Timothy Hagy
A Change in the Air
There was a touch of spring in the air at the Carven couture show on
Wednesday. As always, a freshness and lightness of spirit permeated the
prettily styled collection, which was presented in the Musée Galliera.
Those same hallways recently held the much-heralded Marlene Dietrich exhibit,
whose heavy and dark wardrobe evoked a very different era.
Pascal Millet, who is the current designer for one of the oldest
Parisian
couture houses still in operation, always attracts a loyal following of
French bourgeoisie. With gray gabardine and flashes of the House's
signature
emerald-green, he sent out a collection that seemed to hover somewhere
between Ready-to-Wear and couture. The big houses with multi-million
dollar
budgets like Dior or Chanel, can treat the subject of couture like an
expensive window dressing that shakes down into sales of other products.
No
such luck for the smaller fry. Even Emanuel Ungaro drastically scaled
back
his couture line this year, and Jean-Paul Gaultier, who finds himself in
much the same situation, has been forced to reconsider the issue.
So, perhaps the idea at Carven is to find some way to actually sell
pieces
under a couture label. That approach, however noble, came out unevenly,
as
the collection looked mostly like ready-to-wear, with certain gems that
sparkled a little brighter.
In the latter category, you could certainly include a simple black gown
with
impeccable draping, a tangerine dress with a tightly fitted bodice and
bell
skirt, or the intricate bolero sprinkled with silver embroidery that was
tossed atop the wedding dress.
The wind is most definitely changing directions, though finding the
right
one is more easily said than done.
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