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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