Show report: Carven A/W’12

Guillame Henry took us on an ecclesiastical journey with a fashionable twist on day three of Paris Fashion Week.

Guillame Henry took us on an ecclesiastical journey with a fashionable twist on day three of Paris Fashion Week.

Henry, who worked at Paula Ka, Givenchy and Ricardo Tisci before taking on the role as creative director of Carven in 2009, started our spiritual journey in the former convent Couvent des Cordeliers, now home to a museum of anatomical items. But we were there to look at clothes not preserved brains.

The sacred theme translated into the clothes as ethereal looking models - all glowy skin and tousled hair - marched out to Electrelane’s ‘The Valleys.’

The opening look was classic Carven girl - think Alexa Chung and Olivia Palermo - a neat matching printed skirt suit layered over a softly tailored white blouse and teamed with Mary-Janes. This Parisian femininity that Henry does so well continued throughout the collection with bell-shaped skirts, broderie anglaise dresses and minis with a glimpse of torso through a tiny slit on the chest.

Ribbed slouchy jumpers and high-waisted shorts in mushy pea green nailed that French nonchalant style.

But it was his tapestry-inspired prints that had the real wow factor. Richly coloured, they were based on Hieronymus Bosch’s painting, ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights.’

The painting is said to depict a warning on the perils of life’s temptations, however, it was clear as the final model left the runway that no one could resist the temptation of Henry’s designs.

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