Nicolas di Felice presented his men’s collection—the clothes and lookbook—at the Courrèges showroom during Paris Fashion Week. The energy of the concise, item-driven modernity he’s bringing to the brand—it’s hot—was all over the collection. “You know, back in the day, Andre [Courrèges] was speaking to the young generation. I knew from my first week that it was part of the house,” said Di Felice. “So I really want young people to be able to afford the clothes; to make it, let’s say, more accessible.”
He grabbed a vintage zip-up scuba-fabric jacket which Courrèges had designed for men in the ’70s as an introduction to how he got started. “I found this in the archive, and thought, ‘This shape is amazing,’ but there’s no point in doing it again. So I wanted to mix this silhouette with a biker vibe, because I had a motorbike when I was young. I thought about how it feels to drive to the beach, or to a festival in the summer, or something,” he laughed. “I’ve been at the house for two years now, so I feel more comfortable to explore a bit more of who I am.”
One thing about Di Felice is his knack for filtering lived experience into
his minimal-sexy design. His collection captures all the features of young masculine body-con display that’s taken off this summer: tight-to-the torso leather jackets, twisted, cutaway T-shirts, slick moto pants in the house’s heritage-look black vinyl, gabardine polyester trousers and denims with a hint of bootcut flare.
It’s his addition of the faux leather bondage straps across the front of jackets that adds a clever utilitarian twist. He demonstrated: “So what you can do is take off your jacket or poncho and hang them off your shoulder by the strap, like this. It came to me simply when I was one more time in a party, and it’s hot and there are not enough cloakrooms. I was like, ‘OK, um, so when I go in on Monday—I’m going do that in the collection!’”
The lookbook shows the device in action—clothes gradually becoming cool-looking drapes toted from shoulders, until the last guy ends up naked, carrying all of his clothes. “Like he’s just come out of the water on the beach,” Di Felice grinned. “Or something.”
Also along for the ride on those open-ended long weekends clubbing, raving or festivaling are the new Courrèges ergonomic “Triangle” bags. Based on an archival piece—and designed to be slung across the body—they come in various sizes from small to a large duffel. “Hands-free, so you could jump on your bike,” said Di Felice with a smile. “And just go anywhere.”
