Carven - 1st Fall 2011 Delivery!

I LOVE CARVEN'S FOOTWEAR!! They are so gorgeous and the quality is beautiful. I love this black suede 40's reference pump - a really lovely high heel, but the built-in platform makes it much easier to walk in.

This is the blue lace dress. THE blue lace dress. I mean, look at it! A dress that's amazing and has style to spare, and has a sleeve?!! We all know how rarely this happens in life. Whatever. Practical concerns aside, it's so beautiful it hurts.

Dear God, no wonder some chick dedicated an entire blog to Carven. I'm in love with every piece too. The perfect winter coat you ask? I couldn't tell you, I collect coats like kids collect bottlecaps, but this one would be a really, really excellent addition to the collection - probably would even be in the top 3 on the rotation chart. The gorgeous fabric, the sharp tailoring, the cute little French styling - this might even take home a coat Oscar at the end of the season.

Is it a blazer or is it a coat? Where some people would get confused by a category breaking garment such as this, I see an opportunity to span stereotypes and break through a force field of old assumptions and generalizations about what you can wear where.

We actually had to have an internal meeting about all the different looks that we could create with this jacket, and we fought long into the night. The winner was simply a default winner as this was the photo that we had. Carven can obviously be styled in a ladylike-with-a-youthful-French-twist such as it is above. The pencil skirt styled with it (also from this delivery) is one of the best fitted longer versions of this iconic look I have seen in all my years working in stores. And the shoes need no introduction. The other two looks on the roundtable discussion panel was leather leggings and a black tunic sweater, or a pair of R13 slouchy jeans and a tonal neutral Inhabit sweater. So many choices, one amazing innocent jacket that had no idea how much debate it had aroused.

This is a really unusual collectors item - here's why: from a cut perspective, this is a long vest with a bolero jacket over top. What that means for the wearer is that there is venting built into the cut: under the arm, and the pocket in the front too. I think this is one of the most unique coats I have ever seen, and would really enjoy this for travelling as well as during Vancouver's amazingly long transitional season.