I’ve been on a vintage Courrèges fixation for a while now, which means I should be jumping for joy over the recent news that present day Courrèges, under ownership of former ad execs Jacques Bungert and Frédéric Torloting, will be revived under the creative direction of Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant, who had their own label Coperni Femme.  All the better to go with that Mod spangly bulbous make-up collaboration with Estée Lauder right? And yet despite my love of Courrèges and what that name stands for, the news does vaguely puzzle and perturb me.
Once again, we have another set of names thrown in to the ring of ‘Maison Madness‘. And yet another promising young label is put on the pyre and sacrificed. Rather than slogging it out to build something great on their own, they’d rather attempt to revive a once-great name with ready made investment. I don’t blame Meyer and Valiant in the least.  The assurance of investment into the duo as talented designers is too much of lure to resist and of course, the name name Andre Courrèges is a great one.  What the duo did for the short lived Coperni aesthetically lined up with the clean lines and space age hinting fabrications of yesteryear’s Courrèges. And I don’t doubt Meyer and Valiant will come up with the goods. But will their employers have enough foresight to realise that rebuilding a moribund ready to wear house can’t be done in season or two? Wouldn’t it have been better to attempt to build 21st century’s answer to Courrèges rather than flog a name that won’t actually mean much to most of today’s audience?  Â
Yeah, yeah, broken record Susie. Play that one again. I don’t say any of this lightly. I have a deep deep love for Courrèges. And the vintage pieces that I’ve got my eye on (thanks 1st Dibs…) are going to burn a deep deep hole in my pocket. Wouldn’t it be much better if these once-great couturiers were left in the past, with their legacies still intact and admired, through preservation of memory and garment? And then we can be free to go forth and forge a future with new designers that have their own names above the door?
Courrèges’ collaboration with Estée Lauder â€" not sure whether to display or use these cosmetics…
Choice selection of vintage Courrèges pieces on 1st Dibs
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