Carven

CARVEN 

SPRING/SUMMER 2015

Born in an anonymous suburb in the outskirts of an industrial zone, the Carven boy starts his adventure in the middle of gas stations, schoolyards and football pitches surrounded by estates, to take a big leap into springtime nature in full bloom. In this atmosphere borrowed from Ken Loach’s films, the permanent tension between crumbling industrial structures and reclaiming nature’s delicateness, mixing rough hooligan style and mass consuming aesthetics, sets the tone of this season. The boy’s clothes echo his environment, borrowing elements from practical sportswear, adding poetical details to reintroduce touches of beauty into a grim environment.

Emancipated from fashion diktats, he is building his wardrobe on an accumulation of clothes The shapes of the collection translate this hybridization: oversized bomber jackets, sweatshirts and trousers, contrasting with slim zipped jackets, tailored suits combined with denim jackets and multi-pocket parkas. Slim trousers are hemmed with an elastic band – as a nod to tracksuit bottoms – and sometimes completely cover the shoe, giving a soft and comfortable feel.

Suits, coats, trousers and shirts take over streetwear color codes and are adorned with zips and Velcro. Flowers appear as a strong graphic reference of the season, reinventing the poetic writing of these functional and technical clothes: embroidered petals on a bomber jacket, as if the young man had been wandering in a park, pied-de-coq print traditionally seen on French apprentice uniforms. An embroidered snowdrop patch is placed as an oversized logo, reminiscing of an athlete’s sponsored tracksuit.

The color palette offers a surprising clash between natural and artificial, a superimposition of earthy hues such as khaki and industrial green. An intense blue plastic bag littering a lawn reverberates a bright irish green. The bomber jacket’s electric orange lining stands alongside the black & white of the brand’s logo. Technical materials also contrast: dense jersey, raw Macintosh canvas and coexist with a light gabardine and summery knits.