Emilie Arnault, head of design at côte&ciel, names Antoine de Saint Exupéry, the French pilot and author of The Little Prince as the inspiration behind Stratus, the brand's new collection. "I pictured a puzzle made of sky, clouds, aircraft and parachutes through the eyes of a child." Some bags fold like origami; others appear deconstructed, stripped to their bare bones. There's an ethereal sense of weightlessness about them – a balance between volume and form, as if each piece had been caught in mid-air, billowing before flight.
Since its founding in 2008, Arnault has been at côte&ciel from the very beginning, guiding the design of its collections. Over the years, the brand has also embraced the philosophy of "bags to wear, not to carry", as explained by Arnault. Their bags interact with the wearer, adapting to the body like a garment. "The more abstract the body looks, the deeper you feel the connection, as if the bag was a part of the outfit," says Arnault. Previous examples include the cocoon-like Isar backpack, the circular Moselle and the hooded Nile.
To introduce the Fall/Winter 2025 collection, côte&ciel unveiled Soft Sculptures during the Paris Fashion Week, an installation with Milan-based architect Alberto Simoni of asprostudio.eu. Over 30 foam sculptures were constructed and presented as columns of yielding material supported by wooden frameworks: without the foam, the structures would sway. "The core idea was to bring attention to the design itself," says Simoni. "côte&ciel bags incorporate many details that emerge naturally from the construction process – details that are deduced rather than deliberately selected or positioned. While the bags appear rigid and structured, they are actually built on a soft framework." The squishy foam blocks, sculpted to house the negative space of the bags, create an illusion of solidity, mirroring the way that the côte&ciel bags are formed.
"Emilie explained that she approaches bag design from a sculptural perspective, building the volume from two-dimensional textiles and refining it through prototyping. This was a key insight for the project,” Simoni says. Polyurethane, an everyday material, took on a key role. “Inspired by Emilie’s process, I imagined a sculptural approach – tracing the extraction of the bags from a solid block of material and displaying the negative space left behind. The negative space, shaped around the body, defines the bag’s actual volume when it is worn on the body.” Seeing her designs presented as sculptures was a moment of affirmation for Arnault. "When Alberto dared to showcase the bags as if they were sculptures, it worked so well that for a second, my impostor syndrome vanished," she says. "That's what happens when you meet someone who sees the world as you do – pure, selfless satisfaction." Simoni hopes the installation offers the same sense of openness. "The sculptures are intentionally imperfect, the images are intentionally off-centre, things aren't 'designed' specifically for a space. We wanted to create something without too many preconceived barriers or limitations; exactly how Emilie designs her bags.”
This article is taken from Anima Issue 3, to purchase a copy or subscribe head here
