CHESSY, FRANCE — In the crisp fall air, a certain giddiness overtook the fashion set on the last night of fashion month. Coperni brought fashion editors, buyers and celebrities — who were greeted by Mickey and Chipmunks as waiters passed champagne — to Disneyland Paris.
The brand, designed by Arnaud Vaillant and Sébastien Meyer, showed a collection of brocade blousons, pleather trenchcoats and ruffled booty shorts at the foot of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. The collection sought to evoke central Disney motifs through fashion: childlike innocence, princesses, villains and more.
Fireworks erupted as Kylie Jenner closed the show wearing opera gloves and a spandex-and-crepe full-skirted princess gown. After-hours roller coaster access and a party next to Space Mountain followed.
The show marked the latest in a string of savvy partnerships as the French brand, which is backed by Tomorrow Ltd., seeks to generate global visibility in a turbulent market for independent fashion.
First there was Bella Hadid’s spray-on fabric dress working with a materials start-up, followed by a waltz with spooky robotic dogs from Boston Dymamics. Then came their nearly weightless handbag, an engineering marvel that was as much sculpture and science experiment as it was an accessory.
Independent designers have long turned to tie-ups with shoemakers, cosmetic companies and mass apparel brands for injections of capital and sponsorship for shows.
In a digital era where the lines between fashion and content are blurred, it was only a matter of time before someone thought to turn to the world’s biggest media company: In addition to its chokehold on children’s entertainment, Disney is the parent company of ABC, Hulu and the Marvel and Star Wars franchises.
Its amusement parks — a key profit centre in the US — are a major draw in Europe too, though they remain a more accessible endeavour. Disneyland Paris has ramped up its offer of fast-passes and other VIP services in recent years, but doesn’t attract the same level of unbridled spending as the parks do from American families.
A visit from Kylie Jenner, Irina Shayk and Lila Moss could hardly hurt.
“We’ve always looked for partners, because people don’t realise how small Coperni is,” Arnaud Vaillant said. “With Disney people don’t realise how big it is. It was amazing to have such a supportive partner.”
Coperni has had more success than most translating viral fashion moments into sales: its asymmetric gowns and Swipe bags are a staple of concept stores and online retailers.
But those wholesale channels are under pressure, and with it their parent company Tomorrow — which is the showroom and distributor for wholesale-driven labels including Blue Mountaineering and Aaron Esh in addition to its investments in Coperni, A-Cold-Wall and Martine Rose.
Many independent labels still need a new home after e-tailer Matches Fashion shuttered and amid a cloudy future for loss-making Net-a-Porter. But this brand lived to fight another season, and certainly enjoyed its visit to the happiest place on Earth.
