For resort, Coperni’s Arnaud Vaillant and Sébastien Meyer were in an American state of mind. “I wanted to pay tribute to a place I love, which is Silicon Valley,” explained Meyer at a makeshift showroom in Manhattan where the pair briefly decamped to show their latest collection. It’s a very specific, very fitting choice for the pair who have made their interest in technology a common thread through all their collections.
It’s not the first time that they’ve conjured a young woman who works in the sciences, but whereas pre-fall saw them more conceptually explore the wardrobe of a scientist working at the CERN in Switzerland, their vision of a young woman in California brought along an undeniably West Coast ease. There was a print, for starters, a floral that was in fact not a flower at all but apples. “Because in Silicon Valley there are a lot of fields—but you know, also Apple,” Meyer said playfully of the technicolor print that appeared on jacquard cardigan and boy short twinsets, breezy wrap dresses, and a button-down shirt layered over a simple white tee and tucked into ’70s-style patch pocket jeans. “There’s also a bit of the San Francisco Flower Power Hippie thing,” added Meyer.
Other denim styles were playfully asymmetrical, like the denim jacket and trousers with only one sleeve or one leg respectively—ready to be worn by any number of cool It-girls on the red carpet—or a maxi denim skirt, the sinuous line created by the hem was sensual and playful, a no-brainer purchase. Preppy striped polo shirts and dresses were a handsome contrast to the apple print pieces. “We wanted something a bit more ‘university’ because of Stanford,” Meyer said.
Elsewhere the designers riffed on straightforward “tech guy” influences. For a few seasons they have been toying with turning outerwear into bodysuits, and it was funny to see the everpresent “performance” vest get the Coperni treatment (although a blue weather-proof hiking jacket bodysuit was the best interpretation this season). The cursed “toe sneakers” got a chic makeover in the form of sleek mary-janes in white leather or black with crystal embellishments that take the whole non-shoe shoe thing to the next level.
A heathered gray sweatshirt read STAY FOOLISH STAY HUNGRY in contrasting yellow bubble letters. It was taken from the Whole Earth Catalog, a cult magazine/catalog from the late ’60s that focused on a do-it-yourself, environmentally conscious counter=cultural lifestyle. It was popularized by Steve Jobs, who quoted it when he delivered the commencement address at Stanford in 2005. An exhortation to stay curious about the world, to not be complacent with the things that are a given is something that Meyer and Vaillant can certainly relate to.