Nicolas Di Felice Exits Courrèges After Five Years

Nicolas Di Felice is leaving Courrèges. “I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the [Artemis] group and especially to François Pinault and François-Henri Pinault for their trust,” Di Felice said in a statement that explained he’s exiting to “focus on personal projects”.

A Belgian graduate of La Cambre in Brussels, Di Felice was named artistic director at Courrèges in September 2020. Up until that point, he was a behind-the-scenes designer working with Nicolas Ghesquière at both Balenciaga and Louis Vuitton and with Raf Simons at Christian Dior.

Despite the challenges of debuting amid Covid-era lockdowns, Di Felice quickly captured fashion’s attention with his body-conscious club wear, and, as the world reopened, with the rave-like after-parties he enjoyed hosting. He brought his eye for spectacle to his runway shows, which have variously featured a haptic “breathing” set and a shower of multicolour confetti that pulsed to the rhythm of the soundtrack. But over the course of his five years at the label, he also built a real, recognisable Courrèges wardrobe of vinyl jackets and miniskirts with the space-age AC logo (for house founder André Courrèges), ribbed knits, and boot-cut jeans. As if to make that point, his swansong for the brand, staged earlier this month in Paris, was devoted to “24 hours in the life of a Courrèges woman”.

Courrèges will announce a new artistic director next week. The departure of Di Felice, who is 42, is sure to stir up talk that named him as a contender for the Alaïa job left vacant following Pieter Mulier´s exit for Mulier’exit for Versace.