Carven's new designer looks to Paris streets for runway debut
Kai Nesselrath will show his first collection for Carven, the French fashion house, on the runway on Thursday during Paris Fashion Week.
Nesselrath was appointed design director in June. He told WWD in an exclusive preview that the Spring/Summer 2027 show in October will be his runway debut for the house WWD. A runway here means a catwalk presentation, with models wearing the clothes in front of an invited audience.
For the collection, he has taken Paris as both setting and inspiration. The palette runs from sky blues to Seine greens, alongside tones drawn from the city's stone buildings. He has lived in Paris for more than a decade.
He said he wants to bring Carven back to founder Madame Carven's view of everyday life and Parisian style. What spoke to him most, he said, was her independent spirit and energy. He described her as a woman that's a doer.
That approach centres on a modern, mobile woman. The clothes, he said, should feel like you can live in them. Expect ease rather than display.
There is history behind that idea. Marie-Louise Carven-Grog, born Carmen de Tommaso, launched her house in 1945 to dress women of similar stature to herself. She was 5 foot, 1 inch tall. She became one of the rare women couturiers in Paris, part of a small group of women running high-end houses built around made-to-measure and hand-finished clothing.
Nesselrath also points to a shared interest in building. Madame Carven studied architecture. He considered the discipline but did not pursue it. He said he plays with architecture through jacket construction, shoulder pad placement and how fabric moves.
His background is in cutting and construction. Born and raised in Rome to German parents who were art historians, he studied for a year at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma, the fine arts academy in the city. He then studied fashion at Polimoda, the fashion school in Florence, and took courses at Central Saint Martins, the London art and design school, before working in the haute couture department of Chanel, the French luxury house. Haute couture means clothes made by hand to a client's measures.
He then spent just under a decade at Saint Laurent, the Paris luxury label, focusing on tailoring and structure. Tailoring covers the cut and build of jackets and suits. He previously headed up womenswear there.
Carven is owned by ICCF Group, the Chinese group behind the clothing label Icicle.
What makes this stand out for viewers is the simplicity of the brief. A new designer, a historic Paris house, and a city as the starting point. The test is whether the clothes look wearable on the street as well as on the catwalk.
