Hot girl summer is finally upon us, and the hottest girls are all wearing Coperni. The Y2K revival’s sexiest side is in Coperni’s DNA: it’s all about standout mini dresses, sheer materials, daring cut-outs, sleek tailoring, ultra-crop tops, powder-pink latex and… a hand-blown glass bag with devil horns.
Debuted on the arm of Gigi Hadid at Coperni’s AW22 show, the bag was created in collaboration with buzzy glassware brand Heven – and catapulted Coperni from insider secret to viral fashion status, with a little help from Kylie Jenner, Doja Cat and Kim Kardashian, who all wore the bag in the space of a few weeks.
‘We didn’t expect [it] to be such a success because it’s so heavy and fragile,' says Arnaud Vaillant, co-founder and CEO of Coperni. 'It’s more of an art piece. But Kylie carrying it was so major. A lot of celebrities are now obsessed.’
A glass bag is the perfect metaphor for the world of Coperni, which blends technical innovation with Parisian refinement. The brand was founded by Vaillant and Sébastien Meyer, who met as fashion students at Mod’International Paris. 'It was love at first sight,' says Vaillant. 'Sebastien was studying design and I was studying business, so working together came naturally. In fashion you need both the pragmatic and the magic.’
This perfect combination has seen Coperni become a fashion insider favourite – and its magic comes from the ability to channel the mood of now. ‘During COVID, our shows were about what the young people were missing. AW21 was an homage to the night and parties and dressing in a fancy, sexy way. While SS22 was about escaping reality entirely, like going into a psychedelic trip and just enjoying being alive,' says Vaillant.
In fact, Meyer and Vaillant are so in tune with the mood of the moment that their AW22 show referenced hit TV show Euphoria – entirely by accident.
‘The youth suffered a lot through the pandemic, so our AW22 show was an homage to them, centred on the idea of coming of age. Going from being a teenager to becoming an adult. The set was a high school, with lockers around the runway. This was our concept, and then everyone started saying that it was perfect timing with Euphoria really blowing up,’ says Vaillant. Appropriately, both Zendaya and Alexa Demie are fans of the brand, and a micro baguette version of the Swipe bag was featured in the show.
Vaillant and Meyer cut their teeth at Balenciaga, Chanel and Courrèges, where they were appointed joint creative directors, before launching their own brand in 2019 as a futuristic, ‘techno-chic’ label.
Shop Coperni Now
Coperni Sequin-Embellished Crochet Minidress
Coperni Heart Leather Tote
COPERNI Swipe All-Over Monogram Baguette Bag
‘Coperni is named after Copernicus, the Renaissance-era astronomer, so it’s inspired by science, progress, innovation and technology,’ says Vaillant. Just look to another of the brand’s cult bags, ‘Swipe’, which is shaped and named after the iPhone’s ‘swipe to unlock’ function, or the Spring/Summer 2021 collection. Featuring antibacterial clothes in response to COVID, its campaign was shot using extended reality (XR), a cutting-edge technology that combines real-world and virtual environments to create an immersive experience.
And yet alongside this sits a passion for traditional French craftmanship. ‘We love elegance, tailoring, beautiful cuts and embroidery. Coperni is all about that mix,’ says Vaillant.
Coperni is also all about reimagining sexiness in a modern way, by creating clothes that women can recognise themselves in – and can’t help but want to own. ‘The wearability of the garments has been very important to us from day one. We want to make women feel powerful and beautiful, but we don’t want them to feel costumed. So that means bringing creativity to life in a wearable way.’
Inspired by the women who surround them, including stylist Helena Tejedor, model Mica Argañaraz and the likes of Eve Jobs, Bella Hadid and Nina Kraviz, this translates into cleverly deconstructed blazers, tailored cargo pants, sheer layers and twisted cut-out jackets – pieces which could be worn to work, and then straight out to dinner and a night of dancing on tables.
‘We want our clothes to touch the maximum number of people possible. I love when my mother orders a coat, or when my youngest sister buys a miniskirt. To see a girl in the street wearing a Coperni bag or a piece from the collection is the most rewarding,’ says Vaillant. It follows, then, that accessibility is also important (glass bag, understandably, excluded).
‘All our girlfriends are about 30 years old. We want them to be able to buy a Coperni piece and not have to wait for the sales to afford it.’ The quality is high-end luxury, but the price point far less so: the Swipe bag starts at £300, while the same top Rihanna wore recently retails at just over £200.
Above all, however, Vaillant and Meyer see the importance of keeping things light. ‘It’s a beautiful world and we are so lucky to do what we’re doing and be surrounded by so many amazing, inspiring people,' says Vaillant. 'The rigour is important, but it’s also necessary to find the humorous side of things. We’re not saving lives, right? So let’s have some fun.’
This article appears in the July/August 2022 edition of ELLE UK.
![cannes, france may 19 selena gomez attends the emilia perez photocall at the 77th annual cannes film festival at palais des festivals on may 19, 2024 in cannes, france photo by dominique charriauwireimage](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/selena-gomez-cannes-photocall-2024-664b196b8ab42.jpg?crop=1.00xw:0.668xh;0,0.0304xh&resize=360:* ""Emilia Perez" Photocall - The 77th Annual Cannes Film Festival")
