Carmen de Tommaso was a French couturier who founded the house of Carven in 1945 at the age of 36. Petite, at just over 5 feet tall, she continued to design until she was 84. Last year, she celebrated her 100th birthday with a party, the invitation list reading as a 'who's who' of the fashion elite.
Dressing European royalty, Hollywood actresses and the chic inhabitants of Paris, her business grew steadily over the decades. She excelled at making the diminutive look tall and elegant and brought an innovative thread to the French fashion scene.
Her designs featured architectural prints, including some using trompe l'oeil, the art of making an image appear three dimensionally. No doubt, these ideas came from Madame Carven's background of study in interior design and architecture.
But it is this inventive streak and other Carven signatures, that have been recreated by the House's current creative director, Guillaume Henry. Spring Summer 2011 is shaping up to be as statuesque as Madame Carven herself.
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