“There is the idea of garments that protect, but we wanted to develop it into a feeling,” said Arnaud Vaillant. “So we made garments that care.” Coperni is pivoting to a wearable intersection of wellness it’s calling “carewear.” Following around three years of R&D, the brand used this morning’s show to debut a new sub-line named C+, developed with Swiss company HeiQ. The launch range of garments comprises a bodysuit, leggings and top, all of which come somehow embedded with pre-and-probiotics. “So it’s wearing your skincare,” said Sébastien Meyer. “We are the first to use this technology, and we are going to develop it more for winter. And this time it informed the whole collection.”
Not to mention the show. We sat in a healing circle. Outside of it was a perimeter of high intensity illumination: circadian therapy. And first looks came out to “This Woman’s Work” by Kate Bush, a clinically-proven shot of auditory uplift for this weary womenswear cohort. The collection blended Coperni’s established technology-led futurism with a shot of feelgood woo woo: Gattaca meets Goop.
Wearable affirmations included the metal Coperni-C lanyard clips from which dangled Airtags and crystals. Belts were slung with pouches for iPhones and Airpods to leave hands liberated for gratitude journaling. Pilates shoes developed with Barreletics grounded some looks barefoot style, and resembled silicone bike phone holders. The garments were pared down modern classics with restrainedly innovative upgrades: sleeves on collar-popped jackets and legs on tailored pants were edged in three lines of easy-open membrane to allow grab-and-go alterations. These were worn with swimsuits in tones of energizing watermelon red and detoxifying matcha green, or the new C+ pieces, whose leggings came fitted with belt loops in order to enable those hands-free device holsters.
Some looks came further belted with twisted bolts of lightweight material: ad hoc meditation mats easily transferable into crisscross halter tops in case of an impromptu beach yoga class. Roomy pants were given aesthetically-functional zipper details to allow for dynamic deconstruction. Dresses in sheets of fabric suspended from the neckline were affixed with 20th century-style hard sided handbags, passingly reminiscent of Johanna Parv, and jackets and bags came cut in vegan mushroom leather. Handsomely masculine aviator jackets were hung from the left shoulder but left to fall off the right, seemingly slipping off the body as easily as unresolved anxiety after a microdose.
The Swipe bag is Coperni’s accessory-embodied mantra. This season’s repetitions were cut in quartz, tiger eye and tourmaline to deliver crystal retail therapy. Near the end in black and white were some pleated and quilted pieces based on Renaissance anatomical drawings of fascia and muscles: these were very Dune. Meyer said: “Our challenge was to transform our passion for innovation and science into something softer and more human.” “It’s very zen,” affirmed Vaillant: “spiritual tech guru.”
