Coperni

Coperni was created in 2013 by Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant

If Coperni makes you think of this guy then you are right ! That is Copernicus. Why is he relevant? He developed an astronomical model called the "Copernican heliocentrism". Published in 1543, it positioned the Sun at the center of the Universe with Earth and the other planets orbiting around it. This connection already gives you a hint towards Coperni's DNA and mindset about the future and technology.

Initially Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant launched Coperni Femme, focusing on women's fashion. In 2014, the label won the ANDAM First Collection Prize. In 2015, Meyer and Vaillant were appointed artistic directors of Courrèges, putting their own brand on hold for two years. After that, they came back to Coperni with a unisex approach for the future of the brand.

Coperni became popular with their Swipe Bag or “Eggshell Bag”, inspired by the slide-to-unlock feature on the iPhone. This became their trademark that they keep on modifying and adapting to new concepts and ideas. For example, the brand introduced a version of the Swipe bag made from eco-friendly apple leather in 2021. In 2022, Coperni collaborated with New York glass brand HEVƎN, using high-temperature glassblowing techniques to create transparent glass Swipe bags. In 2023, they made a Swipe Bag made of solid gold and worth up to 100,000 euros. After the show, it was melted down and sent back to the supplier in Italy. A crazier version was made from a 55,000-year-old lunar meteorite. This crazy project was realized thanks to a collaboration with the Italian gallery Thaetrum Mundi and was handcrafted by the Semar factory. In 2024, Coperni made a CD Walkman version of the bag as the Y2K trend was dominating. It uses 3D modeling technology, integrated wired over-ear headphones and USB-C rechargeable battery. Lastly, in 2025, the bag appeared on the runway as made of gemstones: quartz, tiger eye, and tourmaline.

During the Spring Summer 2023 show, the brand shocked the world by asking Bella Hadid to appear naked on the runway, only to be covered with a polymer, creating a dress or rather a second skin. As innovative as this sounds, it also led to many controversies. The performance resembled a laboratory experiment, with white-coated technicians spraying Bella placing a woman as a test subject rather than a collaborator. Some questioned whether Bella Hadid felt pressured to agree to make herself so vulnerable to the world to see. Is the dress biodegradable? Is it single-use? Some people argued that calling it “future fashion” while not addressing environmental impact is misleading.

I do believe that this raises a very valid question: does the industry normalize uncomfortable situations for models in the name of “art” or worse "publicity"?

We can make a comparison with Alexander McQueen’s 1999 spray-painted dress on Shalom Harlow.

FW21 Collection

Guests were picked up in cars and were taken to the AccorHotels Arena where they could observe the show from their cars.

FW24 Collection

SS25 Collection

Location: Disneyland Paris Parc

Fashion itself is a space where reality and fantasy meet. I mean the two designs at the right do portray Maleficent in a sexy yet elegant dress with cool glasses and a princess in shorts - the modern woman is inspired by her dreams but driven by ambition and the future. Overall, they may be showing us that the fairy tale isn’t dead but rather it’s being upgraded.

Many fairy tales involve transformation (Cinderella’s rags to ball gown, Beast to Prince). Coperni might be highlighting fashion’s transformative power but making the point that now technology is the fairy godmother.

FW25 Collection

The venue, the Adidas Arena, was transformed into a LAN party, with over 200 gamers seated at computer stations playing video games. A nostalgic memory of the gaming culture of the ’90s / early 2000s.

Coperni’s signature Swipe bag gets reimagined as a Tamagotchi-shaped purse