“It’s scientific, but poetic,’’ says Sébastien Meyer, the co-founder of Coperni fashion brand. Yes, the brand that gained attention for spray painting Bella Hadid’s dress during the Spring/Summer 2023 show. Recognising the opportunity to push boundaries by creating fashion that transcends the physical, Sébastien and Arnaud Vaillant of Coperni are bridging the gap between fashion, technology, and the cosmos, with its latest handbag.
Introduced as the ‘Swipe Bag’, the bag was confirmed to be crafted using the real Aerogel, a silicon-based substance used by NASA for collecting stardust. It is incredibly lightweight, being 1,000 times less dense than glass, and consists of 99 percent air by volume. If you’re curious on how it looks, just Google Aerogel and you’ll be greeted with an image of a white, transparent object seemingly suspended in mid-air.
During the Coperni’s Autumn/Winter 2024 show in Paris, Sébastien and Arnaud, the co-founders, referred the accessory as “magical, like a cloud.” Collaborating with Greece-based visual artist, academic, and researcher Ioannis Michalous, the brand brought to life the innovative Swipe design that weighs a mere 30g and required 15 prototypes to perfect. Vaillant also highlighted its surprising strength, capable of supporting up to 4,000 times its weight, making it the “largest object created with Aerogel on earth”.
But this wasn’t the first—or second, after Bella’s famous dress—that this brand decided to delve into the Air Space concept. During their Autumn/Winter 2023 runway, the brand introduced the first version of ‘Swipe Bag’ which has been imagined both in solid gold and as ‘90’s throwback Discman, is carved from a slice of a dark grey stone and sprinkled with pieces of an actual… meteorite. Hmm.
While undeniably a standout piece… How is this ethical to our environment and Universe? Let’s just hope we don’t normalise merging Universe’s greatest treasure or atoms into fashion to create waves. Have we not learned anything from science fiction films?