99% pure nothing, 1% glass, 100% innovative:

Fashion house Coperni has yet again gone above and beyond with their recent Paris Fashion Week show. Last year we saw the designers (Sebastian Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant) make history when had a dress sprayed on to model Bella Hadid using fabricants spray liquid fibre. This year their use of science for fashion gets more inspiring.

The designers have created the “Air Swipe Bag” in Athens, Greece alongside Professor Ioannis Michaloudis. It’s the lightest solid on Planet Earth and was carried down the runway by model Leon Dame. The bag measures at 27x16x6cm, weighs 33 grams, and is made of 99% air and 1% glass.

The Air Swipe is the biggest ever object to be made from NASA’s ‘nanomaterial silica aerogel’, a material that can withstand serious heat. AKA frozen smoke, if you’re a NASA specialist! How do we know it won’t disintegrate as soon as we get into the summer season? Well, the aerogel has other functions, one being to catch stardust.

Not only is the bag heatproof (up to 1200 degrees Celsius), but it can also withstand up to 4000 times its weight. Yet another reason nanomaterial silica aerogel is used to catch stardust.

The bag was first revealed during their AW24 fashion show that took place in Paris last night. The fashion label also launched the bag on their Instagram shortly after, showing photos and videos from different angles.

From Coperni’s Instagram posts, and posts from Sebastian Meyer, we can see the bag is transported in a locked case that’s completely padded out. Understandably, great measures are in place to ensure the bag stays protected.

Coperni as a fashion brand is showing what fashion is and will become in the future. Undoubtedly fashion can be about looking and feeling good, carefully crafted garments and fancy catwalk shows. But it’s also about the endless creative possibilities, not knowing what’s next, and using the resources and elements around us to create art that those around us can enjoy and learn from.