Courrèges, loosened at the seams

Drew Henry presented his first Courrèges collection in Paris on 30 September. Nicolas Di Felice had made a sharply fitted, often nocturnal wardrobe one of the house’s signatures. Henry’s opening proposition gives those lines room to move.

A different kind of precision

The first white look sets out the shift. A long sleeveless layer opens below its buttons; straps hang across the trousers instead of cinching them tight. Elsewhere, a dark, double-breasted coat keeps its clean front while a glossy blue hat disturbs the familiar outline. These are changes in how a garment sits on the body, not simply a change of styling.

Colour pushes the idea further. Lime and blue meet in look 33, far from the shorthand of Courrèges white. The yellow coat and sculptural hat near the end of the show make a quieter case for eccentricity: the coat remains a straightforward piece even when the accessory is anything but.

Some combinations ask the eye to take in too much at once. The clearer looks suggest a useful direction for Henry: keep the cut legible, then allow one element to slip out of line. A first collection can establish that question without having to settle it.