Close Encounters of the Coperni Kind

The tech-driven French brand has taken an otherworldly turn, blending science fiction and style for Fall/Winter 2024.

“Like ” says Coperni cofounder and creative director Sébastien Meyer. Not of the forthcoming Fall/Winter 2024 collection, but of the lissom seven-year-old Italian greyhound Neo, who’s shared by Meyer and his husband, Coperni cofounder Arnaud Vaillant (and named for the slick-haired protagonist played by Keanu Reeves, of course.)

Worth nothing because, in recent seasons, the Paris-based brand has become known for its headline-spinning technological stunts—spraying Bella Hadid into a chemically engineered liquid-fiber dress, placing supermodels on the runway with robot dogs, and integrating AI into its fashion before the conversation about it, culturally, reached fever pitch. All of this has driven hundreds of millions of likes and views across the internet.The role of tech in the creative duo’s work isn’t a bit, pandering to of-the-moment debates and trends tethered to digital innovations (if it was, they would’ve dipped a foot in the fleeting—and aesthetically questionable—world of NFTs). It’s been fundamental to the brand from the off, since it first launched as Coperni Femme in 2013, honoring the Renaissance-era astronomer and mathematician Nicolaus Copernicus. “We like to surf in this world,” Vaillant says. “But it’s still fashion.”

When we meet just days before the Fall/Winter 2024 show in Paris, Meyer and Vaillant are high off a string of successes, garnering media attention globally for high-profile collaborations with Evian and PUMA, and creating Beyoncé Renaissance tour look, with Bey riding in on her horse wearing a custom laser-cut cape and hand-stitched bodysuit. Coperni has also earned a reputation as being for . It has become the It Girl brand, with Hailey Bieber, Dua Lipa, and Kylie Jenner among its fans, appearing in more celebrity style galleries than this writer can count. That’s because Coperni’s styles are sleek, sharp, and cool—simply sexy with micro-miniskirts, long-line jackets, sport-inflected bodysuits, and an ease that comes from liquid satin slips and athletic outerwear.“It’s a really sleek, fun brand. They have lots of sexy bits, but their clothes also make me feel put together and grown-up,” raves French influencer and contributing editor Camille Charrière. (Nicole Kidman, recently seen in Spring/Summer 2024’s triangle cutout dress, was unavailable for comment. But her face very much says “I enjoy the cool touch of this metal-accented cutout against my skin.”) So, what will be the world’s most photographed and followed women be wearing come winter 2024? “We wanted to play it a little differently,” Vaillant says, a little cheekily, relishing the change of tact.Fall/Winter 2024 sees their fixation with tech transported out of this world. Leaning against the walls of Coperni’s vast, glass-roofed, white-walled studio (a space with the feeling of an aircraft hanger) is a 6-foot-tall mood board packed with references from sci-fi films: the poster for Steven Spielberg’s (1977), stills of Joaquin Phoenix in a tinfoil hat from M. Night Shyamalan’s (2002), Uma Thurman in a severe black jacket with high clerical collar in (1997), and more.

“The collection is very sci-fi: aliens, UFOs, . . . .” Meyer animatedly explains. “Sébastien read a lot of books about conspiracy theories and UFOs,” adds Vaillant (David Icke’s infamous , arguing that Earth is ruled by an “interdimensional race,” and Jacques Vallée’s , if you’re looking to add to your reading list).As for how sci-fi translates into style, Fall/Winter 2024 features scintillating Lurex knits, deconstructed metallic sets, and silver sports jackets that sit high at the waist, like cropped space suits. It’s slick with high-shine nylons styled with black satin and patent leather boots. There’s a couture sensibility to the taffeta gowns—classic, but made Coperni with hoop-shaped skirts inspired by flying saucers. “Then the tailoring is very ; long and cut very close to the body,” Vaillant says of the lean, minimalist silhouette that has become a much-loved signature of theirs since launching the brand. Along with black, they come in reptilian recycled leather pathworks, “like ,” Meyer adds, which feel new for the duo.But this is Coperni, and it wouldn’t be a Coperni collection without a scroll-stopping tech stunt, be it embedded in the clothes, or an addition that heightens the sense of spectacle at the show.Spring/Summer 2023 ended with Bella Hadid appearing in nothing but nude underwear, sprayed with a white liquid fabric engineered by chemist Manel Torres. Fall/Winter 2023’s runway featured robot dogs by US-based engineers Boston Dynamics, choreographed by dancer Eric Christison, culminating in a viral “hold my bag” moment with Lila Moss. Last season, it was the combination of CD Walkman bags and Naomi Campbell closing the show wearing a Humane Ai Pin (a wearable, AI-powered assistant) that drove headlines worldwide. This season? Something far more understated—in its aesthetics, at least. A handbag made of air: the very thing we breathe.Meyer and Vaillant’s signature Swipe bag will come in its usual fabrications for Fall/Winter 2024. But it also came in one very special edition at the show, crafted using a NASA-engineered substance created to catch space dust: aerogel, the lightest solid on Earth, made of 99% air.“We worked with a scientist, Ioannis Michalous, who is known for working with it. We just found him on Google, and reached out asking if it would be possible to make the Swipe bag,” Vaillant says, pulling out a glass container with a near-phosphorescent blue orb resembling a bouncy ball. “It’s insane; like the sky. Literally.” You would’ve guessed the answer to “Is it possible?” was “Yes,” but actually, Michalous, a Greek scientist also trained in fashion and textile design, wasn’t sure until they tried. It’s the largest item ever made using the material, measuring, in centimeters, 27 by 16 by 6, and took nine attempts across two months to land on the finished product.

“It was very challenging to make,” says Michalous in transit from Belgrade, hand-delivering the prototype to Coperni’s studio in Paris. “It’s science, so you have recipes to respect. Otherwise it will blow up in your face,” he laughs, mimicking the sound of a low, booming explosion. Seeing the bag for the first time was a “wow” moment, he explains. “It has changed how I see the aerogel. My inspiration is science, and I have a lot of discussions with scientists in nanoscience regarding how we can use it. But unless you look beyond the science, you will never know.” That, Meyer and Vaillant say, is the driving force beyond clothing at Coperni.“We love to think of Coperni as a platform sometimes, inviting people from science and technology to collaborate, and share their work with a whole new audience,” Vaillant says, reflecting their own backgrounds as two fashion designers born to families of doctors. “And we know we’re not saving lives, so we want to have fun.”Stunts and science aside, even the aerogel bag is functional, much like the parkas, multipocket pants, and jersey separates that have become staples in their superstar fans’ wardrobes. It’s designed with an interior pocket that fits the essentials—an iPhone and keys. It is, however, beyond the realms of affordability for most. And there is only one. So, we’ll just have to see who, in a fight between Bieber, Lipa, and Jenner, wins out to carry it first.In the meantime, at least we have the regular Swipe bag. . . .