Alexis Martial

Alexis Martial is a French fashion designer born in 1985 and trained at Atelier Chardon Savard in Paris. He began his professional career at Givenchy in 2007, working on knitwear across ready-to-wear and haute couture under Riccardo Tisci. In 2012 he was appointed creative director of Paco Rabanne, followed in 2013 by the creative direction of Iceberg womenswear, where technical fabrics, knitwear and graphic sports references became central to his collections.

Carven appointed Martial and Adrien Caillaudaud joint artistic directors of womenswear on 2 March 2015. Martial brought ready-to-wear experience while Caillaudaud contributed specialist footwear and accessories knowledge, and their shared tenure ran through Spring/Summer 2017 before their departure in October 2016. Their work covered seven sourceable womenswear outputs when pre-collections are included.

Martial and Caillaudaud later reunited through design work beyond the fashion-house format, including the Amca Oval studio and object projects shown during Paris Design Week. That continuation adds product and spatial design to a career first shaped by knitwear, runway womenswear and the mechanics of established fashion houses.

Martial’s fashion work is marked by knitwear knowledge, streamlined proportion and an interest in technical surface. At Iceberg he used high-waisted trousers, colour blocking, synthetic textures and graphic references to sharpen a sportswear vocabulary without losing commercial clarity.

At Carven, his ready-to-wear focus worked in tandem with Caillaudaud’s accessories background. The collections used compact silhouettes, high waists, bright colour, lace and technical fabrics, with the pair developing clothes and accessories as one wardrobe. His later object work continues the interest in shape, utility and graphic construction across a different scale.