Amidst the extra acquainted pics of a Clean Technology-era Richard Hell and younger males in mosh pits on Nicolas Di Felice’s Courrèges moodboard are photographs of Gianni Piacentino, an Italian artist of the Seventies with a factor for bikes—and bike gear. Clicking by way of these photos, there are references each direct and summary to the artist. A streamlined leather-based jacket with Courrèges embroidered in block letters down a sleeve is lifted from one in all Piacentino’s personal jackets; it’s uncommon to see a emblem right here, however Di Felice has earned it. The leather-based harness strap accenting the Holy bag (and the steel {hardware} of a stamped python gown, for instance) is a useful element that gearheads of every kind would admire; the smartest half is it’s adjustable—sufficiently big for a helmet, say, and sufficiently small for a bit ribbed knit Courrèges sweater.
Being a motorcycle lover, Piacentino’s work usually featured wheels and circles—and circles are the place his work and André Courrèges’s overlapped. Di Felice, who briefly rode a Suzuki XR SL when he moved to Paris from Belgium to work at Balenciaga, has already proved himself a deft hand with Courrèges’s geometries, however he retains elevating the bar. He factors to the facet seam of a bit slip gown to indicate that the round component isn’t merely ornamental—he used the total form. That’s true of different items too, just like the a-line skirts and tiny tops with phantasm web shoulders. One cool shirt is designed so {that a} sleeve, with the adjustment of some buttons, can alternately be worn as a shawl, and the season’s sturdy outerwear extends these experiments, with placing asymmetrical lapel and collar particulars.
Now that he’s so snug and assured dealing with the home codes, Di Felice is concentrated on pushing issues. He’s by no means used the lace you see right here on a going-out prime with a helpful pocket on your keys on the sleeve; ditto the slinky hot-fix crystal mesh that he reduce right into a skin-baring gown. It nearly seems like chainmail. He attests to many material trials to get the small print proper and he guarantees extra surprises on the fall 2025 present in March.