Coppélia Pique’s “Bloody Love Story” Told at Church Saint Merri

By Caroline Wall

March 7, 2016

Last week at Church Saint Merri, French fashion house Coppélia Pique debuted its fall/winter 2016 collection, titled “A Bloody Love Story,” as a part of Paris Fashion Week. Inspired by paintings of the tragic romance between Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta, and Charles Baudelaire’s poem The Death of Lovers, the collection illustrates a woman, wounded in adolescence by unrequited love, who gradually embraces herself and ascends as a deity.

Gold-faced models highlighted the show’s mythical “modern Renaissance” setting, while scarlet red belts and layers evoked stab-wound imagery, emphasizing the idea of transformation through the sword. Standout moments in the Coppélia woman’s transformation included a white dress, splashed with gold from a brush with divinity; a broad-shouldered black suit, silhouetting a woman with no male counterpart; a bright red swirl-ruffled dress, showing the woman’s surging metamorphosis; and a crimson kimono-style robe that closed the show, featuring ruched hanging sleeves and a gold-embroidered trail, expressing her ultimate deification.

Open Gallery

Courtesy of Coppélia Pique.

A Bloody Love Story Caroline Wall Charles Baudelaire Church Saint Merri Coppélia Pique Francesca da Rimini fw 2016 FW16 Giovanni Malatesta Paolo Malatesta Paris Fashion Week pfw

Coppélia Pique’s “Bloody Love Story” Told at Church Saint Merri

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