In 1967, French philosopher Roland Barthes compared the designs of André Courrèges and the archconservative Coco Chanel. Barthes said that Chanel's sophisticated silhouettes honoured women who had “already lived and known how to live.”  While Courrèges' pieces revered a woman “who knows how to live.” In Nicolas Di Felice's Fall/Winter 2024 collection for Courrèges, this empowered, self-knowing woman resurrected herself, showing us all how to thrill.

Amongst a soundtrack of heavy breathing and a pulsating stage set, the collection commenced with a series of trench coats, which merged the chin flap and jacket lapel, and balaclavas that drew on explorations from pre-fall 2024. The balaclavas also harked back to the 1960s ‘space age’, when the concept of space travel spurred evocative imagery of a new world.  Further developments of the pre-fall theme included split sleeve details that revealed glimpses of skin. In a similar effect to the trench coat, models were able to pull their arm through the sleeve, imbuing the pieces with a practical sensibility. 

Hands strategically placed in central waist pockets heightened a charged sexual atmosphere. Skirts featured suggestive elements like lingerie suspenders. One notable look included a dress with a camisole-like hem. Bodies were wrapped (or maybe pulled) in bias-cut dresses, asymmetric skirts, draping halter necks and leather pants.

The colours included sand, black, russet and a vermillion, as well as Courrèges brilliant white, which the designer himself once described as being from “the bright side of the moon.” Colour was not the overriding sensation here, though. Di Felice instead offered us something amatory, grounded in touch, or, as Barthes described, “fashion... in which the body always seems to be close, friendly and seductive.”