Having staged their spring show on the roof of La Tour Montparnasse, Paris’s highest skyscraper, Coperni’s Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant were disinclined to do something virtual for fall. But how to put on a live show when showing outdoors in wintry weather is out of the question, and the city’s ongoing COVID-19 confinéments make showing inside impossible too? They landed on the idea of a drive-in, and selected the Accor Arena, a giant stadium on the outskirts of town famous for 2000s-era Alexander McQueen shows, as a venue. Parisians know it as the place Beyoncé plays.
“We always love to do a new project and create a surprise,” said Meyer, the designer in the duo. “It’s a lot of pressure, but we’re happy because we found a good idea.” Last season’s concept show paid off, added Vaillant, who handles the business; “We picked up 30 new clients,” he said. Not all young brands have had that experience in the pandemic.
Meyer and Vaillant have made a signature of an efficient, athleticized minimalism. They were creative directors of Courrèges for a couple of years and the aerodynamics of the couturier’s Space Age designs left an imprint on their aesthetic. But this season they wanted to give their clothes a nighttime gloss. Adut Akech opened the show in an off-the-shoulder A-line minidress, and Mica Argañaraz closed it in a see-through painted lace shift. There was also a robe coat in faux fur, a nod to that other thing that happens after dark: sleep. Some of Meyer’s most compelling thinking happens on the accessories front, a growing part of the brand. A new bag in apple leather unzips completely flat, and the ballet skimmers zip up too, for easy transport.
At the drive-in, the headlights of 36 electric cars lit up the runway. There were two guests per vehicle, with a PCR-tested driver at each wheel, and there was no getting out and mingling. Still, it was about as close as anybody who was there has gotten to real nightlife in a year. Another reason to miss Paris.
