Marie-Louise Carven (31 August 1909 – 8 June 2015), born Carmen de Tommaso, was a French fashion designer who founded the house of Carven in 1945. She was noted for her designs for petite women, her use of lightweight fabrics such as lace and pink gingham, and for being one of the first couturieres to launch a

prêt-à-porter Ready-to-wear (or ''prêt-à-porter''; abbreviated RTW; "off-the-rack" or "off-the-peg" in casual use) is the term for ready-made garments, sold in finished condition in standardized sizes, as distinct from made-to-measure or bespoke clothin ...

line. She was the first Paris designer to patent a

push-up bra There are a great many brassiere designs that are suitable for a wide variety of business and social settings and suitable to wear with a variety of outer clothing. The bra's shape, coverage, functionality, fit, fashion, fabric, and colour can ...

Life

Marie-Louise Carven was born Carmen de Tommaso on 31 August 1909 in

Châtellerault Châtellerault (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Châteulrô/Chateleràud''; oc, Chastelairaud) is a commune in the Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in France. It is located in the northeast of the former province Poitou, and the ...

, France. However, she strongly disliked her given name, and when she founded her business, she assumed the name by which she is better known. Carven showed an interest in fashion design from a young age by making outfits for her pet cat. As a young woman, Carven studied architecture and interior decor at the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centur ...

in Paris. In the 1940s, she employed the Romanian

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

Henry Bricianer in her shop in Paris despite

antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Ant ...

Vichy Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais. It is a spa and resort town and in World War II was the capital of V ...

laws. When the police came for Bricanier, she hid him in the building where her shop was, and allowed him to continue his work. As well, she allowed four members of Bricanier's family to live with her own relatives; this enabled them and Henry to survive until the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. She had a chateau in Chantilly, where she kept kangaroos and peacocks, and a summer house on the

Riviera ''Riviera'' () is an Italian word which means "coastline", ultimately derived from Latin , through Ligurian . It came to be applied as a proper name to the coast of Liguria, in the form ''Riviera ligure'', then shortened in English. The two areas ...

. Carven died in Paris on 8 June 2015, aged 105.

Career

In 1945, at the age of 36, Carven opened her fashion house on the

Champs-Élysées The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc de Triomphe is l ...

. The name Carven combined Carmen, her given name, with the last name of her aunt Josy Boyriven, who introduced her to couture. The 5'1" Carven focused her line on petite women, "because hewas too short to wear the creations of the top couturiers, who only ever showed their designs on towering girls." Carven soon became known as "the smallest of big couturiers." The signature piece from her first collection was a full skirted, green and white striped summer dress. Green and white stripes became the signature of the House of Carven. The material had been found in the attic of a chateau and was likely originally purchased for the summer uniforms of housemaids prior to World War I. Her early clients included

Leslie Caron Leslie Claire Margaret Caron (; born 1 July 1931) is a French-American actress and dancer. She is the recipient of a Golden Globe Award, two BAFTA Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards. She is one ...

Martine Carol Martine Carol (born Marie-Louise Jeanne Nicolle Mourer; 16 May 1920 – 6 February 1967) was a French film actress. Career Born Maryse Mourer (or Marie-Louise Jeanne Nicolle Mourer) in Saint-Mandé, Val-de-Marne, (France), she studied acting u ...

Zizi Jeanmaire Renée Marcelle "Zizi" Jeanmaire (29 April 192417 July 2020) was a French ballet dancer, actress and singer. She became famous in the 1950s after playing the title role in the ballet ''Carmen'', produced in London in 1949, and went on to appear ...

, and

Édith Piaf Édith Piaf (, , ; born Édith Giovanna Gassion, ; December 19, 1915– October 10, 1963) was a French singer, lyricist and actress. Noted as France's national chanteuse, she was one of the country's most widely known international stars. Pi ...

. Carven was an inventive marketer. In 1946, she publicized the launch of her first perfume by parachuting hundreds of sample bottles across Paris. In 1950, Carven created a collection inspired by ''

Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind may also refer to: Music * ''Gone with the Wind'' ...

'' to coincide with the film's French release. She toured France with the collection, staging fashion shows at movie theaters. In 1950, she became one of the first couturiers to develop

. Her preference for simple materials such as pink

gingham Gingham, also called Vichy check, is a medium-weight balanced plain-woven fabric typically with striped, check or plaid duotone patterns, in bright colour and in white made from dyed cotton or cotton-blend yarns. It is made of carded, medium or ...

and

broderie anglaise Broderie anglaise (French, "English embroidery", ) is a whitework needlework technique incorporating features of embroidery, cutwork and needle lace that became associated with England, due to its popularity there in the 19th century. Histor ...

eased her transition to ready-to-wear. In 1955, she launched Carven Junior. Carven was one of the first fashion houses to stage runway shows around the world. The designer's travel inspired her to use diverse materials such as

madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Tamil Nadu, the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and territories of India, Indian state. The largest city ...

batik Batik is an National costume of Indonesia, Indonesian technique of Resist dyeing, wax-resist dyeing applied to the whole cloth. This technique originated from the island of Java, Indonesia. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of ...

, and

raffia Raffia palms (''Raphia'') are a genus of about twenty species of palms native to tropical regions of Africa, and especially Madagascar, with one species (''R. taedigera'') also occurring in Central and South America. ''R. taedigera'' is the sou ...

in her collections. In the 1950s, Carven was one of the first Western designers to use African textiles. Carven designed uniforms for the 1976 French Olympic team, Parisian traffic wardens, Eurostar staff, and over 20 airlines. Carven was also the

costume designer A costume designer is a person who designs costumes for a film, stage production or television show. The role of the costume designer is to create the characters' outfits or costumes and balance the scenes with texture and colour, etc. The costume ...

for eleven films, including ''

Manon ''Manon'' () is an ''opéra comique'' in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel '' L'histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut'' by the Abbé Prévost. It was fi ...

'' (1949), ''

Rendezvous in July ''Rendezvous in July'' (french: Rendez-vous de juillet) is a 1949 French comedy film directed and written by Jacques Becker. It was entered into the 1949 Cannes Film Festival. The film was selected for screening as part of the Cannes Classics sec ...

'' (1949), '' Edward and Caroline'' (1951), ''

Holiday for Henrietta ''Holiday for Henrietta'' (french: La fête à Henriette) is a 1952 French comedy film directed by Julien Duvivier, and starring Dany Robin, Michel Auclair, and Hildegard Knef. While urgently trying to develop a screenplay for a new film, two s ...

'' (1952), and '' Le Guérisseur'' (1953). She also worked for the costume and wardrobe department for the film '' The Red Shoes'' (1948), and for the episode ''Gold'' (1952) of the television series '' Foreign Intrigue''. She worked for the art department for the ''

Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a cli ...

'' episode ''The Case of the Gallant Grafter'' (1960). Carven retired at age 84 in 1993. In 2001, she gifted her archives to the

Musée Galliera The Palais Galliera, also formally known as the Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris (City of Paris Fashion Museum), and formerly known as Musée Galliera, is a museum of fashion and fashion history located at 10, avenue Pierre 1er de Serbie, ...

Awards

In August 2000, Carven was named

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to s ...

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

. At her hundredth birthday party in 2009, she was made a commander of the Legion of Honor.

References

External links

Carven website

Carven "Esperanto" suit at the Palais Galliera
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carven, Marie-Louise 1909 births 2015 deaths Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Commanders of the Legion of Honour École des Beaux-Arts alumni French centenarians French fashion designers French women fashion designers French Righteous Among the Nations People from Châtellerault Women centenarians