‘Never copy the past’: how Nicolas Di Felice is taking Courrèges into the future

It’s been six decades since 40 Rue François was selected by André Courrèges as the Paris HQ for his namesake brand. Its current artistic director, Nicolas Di Felice, joined in 2020. ‘When I got here, there was a sign at the entrance to these offices – really quite tiny in size, like this,’ says Di Felice, pinching a few inches of air between his thumb and forefinger. ‘But it was the first thing I noticed. It had been placed there by Coqueline Barrière, André Courrèges’ wife. It read: “Never copy the past”. And for as long as I have this position, this is a message I will carry with me in all that I do.’

Led by this raison d’être, the Belgian-born designer has altered the trajectory of Courrèges, transforming the storied house in just five years from a once-overlooked legacy label into a name firmly cemented in fashion’s zeitgeist. The minimalist codes established by André Courrèges during the 1960s – including technical fabrication, geometric silhouettes and ultra-short hemlines – are now reinterpreted by Di Felice for a new generation. It was a letter outlining this vision, candidly written on a single sheet of paper and addressed to the Courrèges family, that would secure him the job, with the designer making his runway debut for A/W 2021.

Nicolas Di Felice’s free-thinking vision for Courrèges

‘I had been watching a lot of archival videos of André Courrèges speaking about his work, being interviewed on TV, and so on,’ says Di Felice. ‘He spoke so clearly, so directly about geometry and simplicity of form. His sketches would depict women in motion, really wearing his clothes... Walking, running, as though you could see the wind in their hair. It was his obsession, to make clothes that allowed freedom. And this was my starting point.’

Di Felice’s fledgling talent was nurtured at the prestigious La Cambre school in Brussels during the early 2000s, where, he admits, the tutelage was perhaps more in keeping with Martin Margiela than André Courrèges. Citing the likes of Rick Owens, Ann Demeulemeester and Helmut Lang as a few of his other important inspirations, his time at the fashion institution laid the foundations for his current design approach – conceptual but with an unpretentious grounding in the craft of making clothes for real life, an outlook further honed during stints at Balenciaga under Nicolas Ghesquière and Christian Dior under Raf Simons. Di Felice would later reunite with Ghesquière at Louis Vuitton, spending five years there and rising to be senior womenswear designer before being spotted by Courrèges.

Before moving to Brussels at the age of 17, Di Felice spent his childhood in a remote, post-industrial area, near the city of Charleroi, in the southern, French-speaking part of Belgium. ‘It was quite a stark, empty place,’ he says. ‘There were miles and miles of rolling fields, with just nothing. Except the clubs, which would emerge out of the darkness like neon beacons... Bam! Discovering the club scene as a teenager, and the sense of freedom and joy it gave me, shaped who I am today – and it continues to shape me.’

Di Felice’s latest womenswear presentation for Courrèges marked a culmination of his formative influences, the show notes describing it as ‘a commitment to optimism, a uniting purpose which is needed more than ever’. Held inside the Carreau du Temple, in Paris’ 3rd arrondissement, its façade was decked out in white (a Di Felice runway signature) and the floor was laid out in a square of red, white, pink and blue mylar confetti, over which the models walked. Gradually, the confetti began to flutter upwards as the first looks emerged, reachinga frenetic crescendo in the air. ‘The set was by Rémy Briere, who I’ve collaborated with at Courrèges for several seasons now,’ says Di Felice. ‘It was inspired by Dan Colen’s confetti paintings, which he began in tribute to his late friend and fellow artist Dash Snow to memorialise life’s fleeting moments.’

‘The paintings were the driving force behind the entire A/W 2025 collection itself,’ he continues, leafing through the pages of a glossy catalogue by Colen, titled Moments Like These. ‘I took Dan’s idea of capturing a moment in time, beginning with the “one minute silhouette”.’ Here, a rectangle of fabric, cut ‘like a blown-up piece of confetti’, curls around the body in one immediate gesture to form a mini dress. A similar shape also acts as the front panel of a pinafore, swiftly fastening over one shoulder in an easy take on the backless halterneck. Or it’s a snood-like attachment on knitwear, jackets and coats, to be swiftly pulled up or down by the wearer at will. ‘I also approached the more decorative elements in the collection this way,’ says Di Felice, referencing his elevation of press studs. (The hidden practical fastening, created for its speed of use, fully embellishes a pair of trousers or strapless shift dress.)

Even for the A/W seasons, there is a sense of lightness to Di Felice’s collection for Courrèges; these are clothes to be seen in, but also to lose yourself in, as one does to a hypnotic tempo on the dancefloor. Di Felice – who has been making music alongside his fashion career ever since his La Cambre days – remixed C’hantal’s ‘The Realm’ (a spoken-word house track first released in 1990) with artist Erwan Sene for the A/W 2025 show. ‘Something for your mind, your body, and your soul ... rhythmatic movements in unison with others prolong an act of sensation, with no limits or boundaries ... eternity is past ... pleasures of the highest sense ... feelings of warmth and security,’ proclaims C’hantal (whose true identity remains unknown) over a trancey instrumental.

‘It’s a song that I’ve known ever since I started to go out when I was young,’ says Di Felice. ‘The lyrics speak to me. The club is a community. It’s where I’ve met so many of the friends that I still have today – artists, collaborators and mentors. It’s where I meet new friends, too. For the younger generation, it’s a space that provides a sense of togetherness, an opportunity to let go – which is more difficult than ever these days, I know. But so needed right now.

‘André Courrèges wasn’t romantic in the slightest, but this is perhaps where we differ,’ he says, with a laugh, before extending an invitation to the next Courrèges Club, the raucous late-night parties staged by the brand at various points in the cultural calendar. Recent editions took place at last year’s Hyères Festival (where Di Felice headed up the fashion jury) and men’s fashion week in Paris.

Di Felice is philosophical about the challenges he faces as a fashion designer. ‘It’s important to keep some perspective,’ he says. ‘In a creative sense, what can be difficult today is ignoring the noise around you, and staying true to who you are. But I think, as designers, it’s our duty to provide a unique point of view. It’s one of the many, many things I admire about André Courrèges: he wasn’t afraid of radical thinking.’

Model: Gret Mateides at Girl Management. Casting: Emmi Grundström. Hair: Joséphine Brignon at Artlist. Make-up: Yvane Rocher at WSM using Manasi 7. Photography assistant: Marlee Pasinetti. Fashion assistant: Apolline Baillet. Local production: Clara Perrotte Shot on location at Maison Louis Carré, designed by Elissa and Alvar Aalto for a Parisian art dealer and collector in Bazoches-sur-Guyonne. The modernist architects’ only building in France, the house reopened this summer after extensive restoration, with visits available by booking at maisonlouiscarre.fr

A version of this story appears in the September 2025 Style Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today