Held within the Salle des Textiles at the National Museum of Arts et Métiers in Paris, Coperni created the fashion moment of the season, in a rapidly-viral culmination of the show that co-creative directors Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant dedicated to the women of the world. Founded in 2013, Coperni is just shy of ten years old, yet has already declared itself as a house that knows just how far to lean into sensual futurism. 

For their Spring 2023 Ready-to-Wear Collection, classic men’s tailoring has been subverted, hung low on the backs of dresses, acting as a modern day crinoline. Short-sleeve shrunken tailored floral jackets show off bulbous shoulder padding while clinging tightly to the torso, coordinated with matching micro-mini shorts. Trousers hang low on the waist revealing the waistband of underwear, while slinky dresses are inspired by the soft construction of lingerie. 

Coperni has become home for the modern effortlessly cool girl — finding a perfect balance between the oversized and the shrunken fit, delighting in their use of performance textiles, and always finding a splendid amount of skin to be revealed. Just before the finale of the show, a host of looks consisted of embroidered shattered glass in a flex of casual opulence.

The closing look of the collection, created in collaboration with Fabrican, absolutely slingshotted Coperni into a house that is passionate about innovation on the runway. Bella Hadid appeared on the runway in nothing but a pair of kitten heels and underwear, walking up to a platform where Doctor Manel Torres and a colleague were armed with spray cans. In a show-stopping performance, a white liquid was sprayed onto Hadid’s body from her neckline to her calf. Over seven minutes, the fantastical concoction was sprayed and mattified onto the supermodel’s body, before a third colleague entered to cut the hem of the dress and unravel the neckline to drape delicately off of Hadid’s shoulders. 

Hadid took the runway in the (literal) skintight dress, bathing in applause from the audience as she took her time lavishly showing off the trailblazing experiment that she is wearing. The performance felt like the quenching of a scientific drought in fashion, where in just under ten minutes, Coperni turned their runway into a stage for the intersection of science, performance art, and fashion.