When I reviewed the new Dolce by Dolce & Gabbana, I asked readers to recommend a perfumista-worthy inoffensive, ‘light & fresh’ office-friendly floral. My vote went to Carven Le Parfum, the Carven brand’s reintroduction as a perfume house under creative director Guillaume Henry. I called Carven Le Parfum “young and fresh and modern and charming” when I reviewed it, and hoped we’d see a ‘noir’ or ‘intense’ flanker before long. As these things go, what we’ve got instead is Le Parfum’s “younger sister”, the new Carven L’Eau de Toilette, done up in the color du jour, pale green. Oh well, it isn’t over yet, right?

I wanted to bring a fresh floralcy, so we have an idea of something lighter without it being lighter.¹

That’s perfumer Francis Kurkdjian, who developed both versions, and yes, fresh floralcy is just what Carven L’Eau de Toilette is all about…

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The venerable Carven brand has been undergoing a revamp over the past three or four years, and everything appears to be working out quite nicely, thank you:

When it was set up by diminutive tastemaker Carmen de Tomasso in the 1940s, its stock-in- trade was simple, couture for the rich and petite. By the 2000s, like many of its mid-century cohorts, it had made a ton of cash from perfume and somewhat lost its way, remaining a respected but not particularly relevant presence. But in 2012, thanks to the efforts of its new creative director Guillaume Henry, Carven is now, suddenly, one of the most talked-about new labels in the business.¹

Perfume, of course, is part of the overall equation, as it frequently is in the world of fashion. Carven has recently relaunched their 1946 classic, Ma Griffe,² and they’ve added Carven Le Parfum, a new fragrance for women (a cologne for men is due next year) developed under (also new) licensing arrangements with Groupe Jacques Bogart. Of course, things have changed since 1946, and Henry was adamant that the new scent not be “too heavy or complicated to wear” — hardly the hallmarks of Ma Griffe…

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