Instead of the standard runway show format, Coperni’s Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant hosted a screening of a short film at the Apple store on the Champs Élysées today. The duo made an impression on the fashion community during their three seasons at Courrèges. When their gig at that Paris heritage brand ended, they took some time to themselves before relaunching their original label, Coperni, with the cleverest of ideas: a Choose Your Own Adventure Instagram account and a minimalist collection focused on tailoring and ’60s-ish shift dresses that got the balance just right between savvy branding and smart design.
Their new Spring collection is about “connectivity,” hence the venue for their short film. The concept came across most clearly with their leather Wi-Fi bag, which reproduced the familiar signal arches in black and white leather. There was also a Bluetooth bow on the waistband of miniskirts. A vestigial strap on the left shoulder of a neatly tailored blazer was meant to have some sort of relation to the theme, but it was more tenuous—though a customer can scan the jacket’s QR code to find out the fabric’s origins. Meyer and Vaillant like a close-to-the-body silhouette stripped of all but the most rigorous surface details, but even by their minimalist standards the ideas this season were a little thin. One concept that had legs was the pair of Mary Jane ballerinas that, with the adjustment of a few buckles, morphed into an ankle-strap style. These two have a lot of good ideas; with the necessary ready-to-wear development, we hope to see more of them put into action next season.
