What’s the surest sign your label is hot? Up there at the top of the list is seeing Marc Jacobs wearing it on his Instagram. Earlier this month the American designer posted a pic of himself in a red Courrèges mock neck sweater from Nicolas di Felice’s first drop for the French heritage brand. A few days later there was another photo in another sweater, that one in sunshine yellow. Jacobs did his own Courrèges homage in the pre-Instagram days of fall 2003. Just this morning he posted a new Courrèges Reedition vinyl jacket; the caption summed up his sentiment: “Definitely having a moment.”
On a Zoom call from the Paris atelier Di Felice said some of the colors from that early drop are sold out. Cleverly, he gave his first outings for Courrèges an item-y spin, turning out relatable, identifiable clothes that took any anxiety out of buying; they’re statement-making but easy to wear.
He’s continuing in that vein with his first men’s collection for the house. It’s actually his first men’s collection period; Di Felice has only designed womenswear until now. André Courrèges himself made men’s clothes from about 1973 to the mid-’80s, but it hasn’t been part of the brand picture for many years, so launching it was a blank slate situation. Di Felice’s approach was to think hard about what he and the guys on his design team want to wear. The streamlined, minimal sensibility of original Courrèges remains, but there’s little to none of the leftover Space Age vibes that could’ve materialized.
Instead, you’ll find straightforward trucker jackets in leather or washed denim; a single-breasted coat in a micro-check; ribbed knit, elastic waist pants; even jeans. There’s a pair of stretch vinyl trousers with circular cut-outs down the side seams and a tank with a single, bigger cut-out on its front, but with the hot vax summer that’s ahead of us and the new gen’s openness to experimentation that level of exposure is likely to look less provocative that it once did. The bright spot among the women’s pieces he showed today was a tank dress with the signature cut-out paired with kick-flare pants in the Jacobs-approved sunshine yellow.
