Coperni's Arnaud Vaillant talks about the importance of innovation

On Wednesday, April 24, the Palais de Tokyo in Paris hosted the seventh edition of the Fashion Forum*, which addressed issues related to the transmission of knowledge, training and innovation. Arnaud Vaillant, CEO and co-founder of Coperni, was invited to talk about innovation. The Paris-based ready-to-wear and accessories brand brilliantly transcends the boundaries between design, craftsmanship and technology, all with an undeniable sense of spectacle.

A favorite on social media, Coperni has become famous for her spray dress made directly onto model Bella Hadid's body during a catwalk show, for having robots from the American company Boston Dynamics pose as models, and for making a silica airgel. . Bag made with 99% air and 1% glass.

“Sébastien Meyer (co-founder and creative director of Coperni) has not read the biography of Christian Dior, but that of Steve Jobs. He likes to create things, that is why we innovate not only with our products but also with our scenography and our communication,” he says. Arnaud Vaillant.

For example, every season for five years, the brand founded in 2013 and relaunched in 2019 has renewed its Swipe bag, an oval-shaped piece with a rather organic look. The brand has offered a version of the Swipe made from meteorite fragments and another from blown glass. The latter, more of an art object than a bag, has even had some success. “This bag was worn by Gigi Hadid at the show and then by Kylie Jenner, which helps! But we still sold 300, which is a lot!” says Arnaud Vaillant amused. The latest version of the bag, made in Greece by an engineer, is made from silica airgel, a nanomaterial used by NASA.

Collaborations

“Innovation can make people dream, but it can also make them think. But we don't try everything. For example, we haven't gotten into NFTs. Making real collections with real equipment already has a cost.”

Reminding us that innovation takes time and does not follow the sometimes frenetic pace of fashion, Coperni likes to collaborate with specialists. An example is his recent alliance with the German equipment manufacturer Puma around sneakers, a segment that Arnaud Vaillant believes all designers want to enter.

“We worked for a year and a half with Puma teams, not those dedicated to collaborations, but those dedicated to innovation. That was our wish,” explains Arnaud Vaillant, underlining that working with specialists saves time.

Coperni is also looking at artificial intelligence (AI) and the many possibilities it offers. “For the robot collection, we didn't have the time or money to call print designers, so we worked with Dall-e (an AI imager) and asked them to create a print showing a robot meeting animals. This print, which belongs to us, was painted directly on the clothing by an artisan. It is a way of uniting technology and craftsmanship,” explains Arnaud Vaillant.

The brand, which will present its collection on October 1, promises a crazy but less technological show, “you have to know how to renew yourself,” concludes Arnaud Vaillant.

*The Fashion Forum is organized by the Fédération française du prêt-à-porter féminin (FFPAPF) and the Fédération de la haute couture et de la mode (FHCM), in collaboration with Defi, the CTC, Francéclat and the Ministry of Economy. , Treasury and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty and the Ministry of Culture.