Kai Nesselrath’s Carven SS27 debut draws on late-’50s archives and workwear stripes
On 1 October at Paris Fashion Week, new Carven design director Kai Nesselrath showed a sculptural Spring/Summer 2027 collection rooted in the house’s late-1950s and early-1960s peak, with green-and-white workwear stripes, mini skirt suits and rounder shoulders, Vogue reported.
Kai Nesselrath presented his first collection as Carven design director on Thursday, 1 October, during Paris Fashion Week, digging into late-1950s and early-1960s archives for a youthful, sculptural Spring/Summer 2027 lineup, Vogue reported.
Archive codes and silhouette
Nesselrath, who joined Carven in June from Saint Laurent after nearly a decade there as head of womenswear design, told Vogue backstage he wanted “precise lines” and a “very sculptural” collection. He contrasted Saint Laurent’s “power woman” straight shoulders with Marie-Louise Carven’s rounder, more “real” shoulder line. The show returned to the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, where predecessor Mark Thomas staged his final Carven show, with an invitation of a green-and-white striped pencil — a historic house code tied to summer work uniforms — and a sketch card. Highlights included mini skirt and jacket ensembles, white-and-green striped pajamas, apron dresses and pencil-shaving-shaped earrings. The soundtrack featured Anna Karina reading a poem from Jean-Luc Godard’s Alphaville.
Industry reaction and house context
Buyers and creatives quoted by Vogue called the collection wearable, modern and continuous with Carven codes; Printemps’s Angélique Liautaud cited “softer femininity” and “elevated, delicate textures.” Parent ICCF Group (formerly Icicle Group) has been steering a revival after Carven’s 2018 bankruptcy and subsequent Chinese ownership; Nesselrath succeeds Mark Thomas, who exited in April after Louise Trotter’s earlier departure for Bottega Veneta.
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