Thu 4th March
Gabriela Hearst’s first collection for Chloé wasn’t the only big debut during yesterday’s digital Paris shows. Maison Courrèges has a fresh-faced Nicolas Di Felice now at the helm. Stepping into the shoes of Yolanda Zobel, who parted from the label in January 2020, Di Felice comes from an illustrious list of Nicolas Ghesquière protegees who’ve trained under the creative director at Louis Vuitton.
Set in a gigantic white cube on the outskirts of Paris – a nod to the first Courrèges salons mixed with a taste for the Belgian clubs Di Felice grew up around – the designer honed his sights on the youthful vision of the house’s founder, André Courrèges. Di Felice was weary to channel the founder’s balls-to-the-wall, space-age futurism off the bat. Instead, he looked to the modernist, geometric constructions that defined the early years of Courrèges.
First look out: a roomy overcoat with rounded shoulders, which adopted a check pattern produced by Courrèges in 1963. It came followed by a procession of cropped A-line dresses and wool crepe skirts with pronounced seam allowances – a Courrèges staple – and cracked leather bodysuits with eyelet cutouts up the side. Add slick going out trousers, ribbed, woollen all-in-ones and knee-high boots to the mix and you’ve got a wardrobe built for the youth of tomorrow.
Photography courtesy of Courrèges.
