Magic Kingdom: Coperni, the French fashion brand known for creating buzz moments like Bella Hadid’s spray dress, is preparing to turn heads again when it comes to choosing its location for the next Paris Fashion Week.
WWD has learned that co-founders Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant are set to open the show at Disneyland Paris for the first time in history on October 1.
Known for their love of technology and experimental approach to show formats, the duo embraced the opportunity for an event with wide appeal.
“It was a childhood dream come true,” says Vaillant. “We grew up in the south of France, and our first visit to Paris as kids wasn’t to see the Eiffel Tower, but to go to Disneyland.”
They’ve been shuttling between the studio and the theme park, fine-tuning the “complete experience” for the invitation-only show, which will take place around 10 p.m. in the park’s Fantasyland area.
“This will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. They’ve never done anything like this before, so this is a big gamble for them,” Vaillant said of the event. It will mark the first time that Disneyland Paris will host a show during Paris Fashion Week.
Disneyland Paris is on track to reach a record 9.93 million visitors in 2022, making it Europe’s most-visited theme park resort, according to the latest annual report from the Themed Entertainment Association and infrastructure consulting firm AECOM. Disneyland Paris said it has welcomed 375 million visitors since it opened in 1992.
The resort is undergoing major renovations as part of a €2 billion investment that saw the opening of Marvel Avengers Campus two years ago. Next up is the renovation of Disneyland Paris’ second park, Walt Disney Studios Park, which will open the new World of Frozen and be renamed Disney Adventure World.
Arnaud Vaillant and Sebastian Meyer
Courtesy of Coperni
The entertainment giant has partnered with brands like Balmain and Givenchy on clothing lines, and last year it commissioned artists and designers like Schiaparelli’s Daniel Rosebery and Kenzo’s Nigo to contribute work to its Create 100 project, marking its 100th anniversary.
The Coperni show will be inspired by Disney princesses, “of course we’ll add the Coperni touch, so we’ll approach it in a cool, contemporary, innovative and high-tech way, but we always want to evolve the style of the Coperni woman,” Vaillant said.
“As you can imagine, we’re going to be leaning towards the more glamorous side of the brand,” he predicted.
Details of the show are being kept under wraps, but the couple will host a cocktail party at the royal-themed Disneyland Hotel, which reopened in January after a two-year renovation. “Backstage will be the Cinderella Inn. It’s going to be really fun,” Vaillant said.
The afterparty will be held at Discoveryland, home of Space Mountain.
Coperni is known for incorporating unexpected elements into its runway shows: the brand hosted a drive-in fashion show during the coronavirus pandemic and once presented a collection on top of the Montparnasse Tower, the tallest building in Paris.
Meyer said the label shares Disney’s “passion for entertainment.”
The designer was fascinated by company founder Walt Disney, who died in 1966, and points out that Disney named members of its research and development team Imagineers because their work involves the imaginative application of engineering.
“He was a great innovator and one of the first to revolutionize not only animation and film but theme parks with new technology,” Meyer noted. “I put Walt Disney in the same league as people like Steve Jobs. They were visionaries.”
The duo hopes the show will resonate with a broad audience. “Fashion can be a bit snobbish,” says Vaillant. “We always want to bring it to a bigger stage.”
Behind the scenes at Coperni rtw Fall 2021.
Kuba Dabrowski/WWD
