Nicolas Di Felice of Courrèges on young designers and their fresh, powerful sense of image

At this year’s Hyères International Fashion, Photography and Accessories Festival, where he chaired the fashion competition jury, Nicolas Di Felice gave an interview to a handful of magazines, including FashionNetwork.com.

Di Felice shared his vision of today’s young designers and of the creative director role, while revealing the formula that enabled him to revive Courrèges, Parisian fashion’s sleeping beauty, of which he was named creative director in September 2020. Before taking charge of the label, owned since 2018 by Artémis, the investment company of Kering’s Pinault family, the Belgian designer, a graduate of the La Cambre academy in Brussels, worked for nearly 12 years at Balenciaga, Dior and Louis Vuitton.

FashionNetwork.com: What are the key elements that contributed to Courrèges’s revival?

Nicolas Di Felice: The elements that are introduced in any revival recipe must first of all be consistent with the label’s DNA. Courrèges is a house that must be synonymous with clarity. It has always been defined primarily by geometric shapes. It often features repetitions, and plenty of new fabrics. This was its heritage, written season after season. It has always been characterised by someone’s work and personal touch. It was out of the question for André Courrèges to change style in each collection to follow trends.

FNW: What characterised his work?

NDF: [André Courrèges] was very good at tailoring. We mustn’t forget this, even if his creations seemed to be very flat, especially in Courrèges’s early days. He was a pupil of Cristóbal Balenciaga. His motto was “the right shape for the right fabric.” His message was clear, it had clear forms. Looking at [Courrèges’s] designs from the 1960s in Harper’s Bazaar or Vogue, you see beautiful planes and wonderful geometric shapes on glossy paper. I wanted to convey this same message.

FNW: What is your recipe for success?

NDF: First and foremost, clarity, as I said. Having a clear message, whether visually, in communications, and especially in the products I create. What is also important is to fully honour the label’s history. [Courrèges] is a house that I respect, that I’ve always loved. Initially, it was an atelier doing something very much like haute couture. It wasn’t just clothes made any which way. There was a genuine focus on cuts. Finally, third point, it was important for me to understand who I was addressing, especially in developing our price positioning. Another ingredient, which in my opinion doesn’t only refer to this house but our industry as a whole, is to be sincere, in terms of what I can contribute with my work.

FNW: What does being sincere mean for a fashion label nowadays?

NDF: We are immersed in an era of gimmicks and viral trends, but if one wishes to have long-term success, one needs to have real customers. Just because someone clicks on an image and says they like it, it doesn’t mean they’ll buy the product. We must be aware of this. Making people come to your store also means telling them: “So, I’m going to spend some time making clothes. I hope you’ll like them. In any case, I’ll do everything I can to make them fit you, and make you beautiful.” This is what being sincere means, and I think there are still people who realise it.

FNW: Who are Courrèges’s customers?

NDF: Our clients are aged from 17 to 90. This too is one of the keys to the house’s success. When you relaunch a brand, you try to have a guideline. With my first messages on Courrèges, I never really addressed a specific person. I’m lucky that it’s not just 20-year-old girls who buy our clothes. They appeal to mothers, fathers, and daughters. It’s something I’m very proud of. Even my 70-year-old mum wears Courrèges! I think that anyone who walks into a Courrèges store will find something that suits them, no matter the size.

FNW: Does being a creative director involve a lot of tension?

NDF: It’s become harder than before. Running the label is no longer enough. Getting there is one thing, but then you have to hold on, you have to keep the fire going. This can sometimes be more stressful than in the past. I’m not asked for more, but sometimes I’m the one demanding more from myself.

Among young designers, “a concept sometimes might take precedence over technical skills.”

FNW: What struck you about the finalists’ work at the Hyères Festival’s fashion competition?

NDF: I don’t know if the shortlist was the most representative of the current period. But in general, it reflected a range of things. Even if our job is basically to make clothes, we realise that nowadays fashion can also be something else. It can be expressed more graphically, through an idea or a concept that sometimes might even take precedence over our technical skills.

FNW: What do you think of this evolution?

NDF: Is it a good or a bad thing? I don’t know the answer. In any case, it’s very much a contemporary issue. It’s obvious that there are people who like to work on garments and others who would rather work on image. What’s new, it’s this fresh, powerful sense of image. We’re living in a world of images, there’s a constant streams of images overwhelming us at a faster and faster rate. It’s strange for us, witnessing the emergence of this phenomenon. I’m a great romantic, so I’d tend to shun this kind of thing. But it’s a fact, and I am not anti-progress, far from it. I just think we have to use images wisely.

FNW: What other major trends have you noticed?

NDF: The finalists’ collections were mostly centred on menswear. In my time, it was quite the opposite. In the past, menswear was something more niche, less developed. It’s the result of a societal evolution. Just look at how we dress today, following trends like workwear and oversized garments. There’s a more uniform way of perceiving clothes, whether for men or women. We use garments in a less fossilised way.

“Nowadays, it’s acceptable to buy a vintage jacket, personalise it, and show it on the runway.”

FNW: How do you see young designers today compared to when you started your career?

NDF: There has been much change, perhaps for the better. I started in fashion at a time when we didn’t count our working hours, we were at it almost 24 hours a day. It wasn’t healthy, and we were paid haphazardly. But I regret nothing, not a single minute of it, because I learned so much. I loved it, it was a great education.

FNW: What has changed?

NDF: Nowadays, there’s a healthier lifestyle. Working from home is a reality, and new hires are asking about it when they join a label, whereas normally in our profession we don’t use to work from home. Another example, previously we had to make each garment from scratch, while nowadays it’s acceptable to buy a vintage jacket, personalise it, and show it on the runway. It’s a new way of doing things, but also a reflection of what young people are willing to bring to this profession. I think it’s important to live with our times, to accept new rules. It was important for some things to change. It also depends on how we see our job. Either as a profession, which is more about creativity, self-expression and therefore passion and investment, or as a business. It’s a question of perspective.

FNW: What advice would you give to young designers?

NDF: To be really themselves, to be sincere in what they say, and to be honest. There are many of us keen to practice this profession. Our profession is sometimes so tough, that I think we have to be really sure of what we want to express, that it comes from the heart. Otherwise, keeping up with the pace in the long run, when one isn’t really sincere with oneself, can be truly destabilising. As for other advice, there is no secret, you have to work hard.