This bag is made of 99 percent air

French design house Coperni crafted its newest accessories with NASA’s nanomaterial silica aerogel


Paris Fashion Week not only puts the spotlight on the latest visions of the biggest designers and brands. It also highlights the future of fashion, pushing the limits of clothing with today’s tech innovations. Among the many fashion houses that made a mark in merging science and style is Coperni. In the past, the French brand produced a spray-on dress, which made a buzz online in 2022. This time, the brand is going viral once again for its newest bag design that is crafted with air.

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Coperni's Air Swipe bag (Photos from Coperni)

For its fall 2024 ready-to-wear collection, Coperni looked at the galaxy for inspiration. Led by Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant, the brand was able to produce pieces that mark a new chapter for space-inspired fashion—-like its star-shaped stilettos and a metallic dress reminiscent of space blankets. What stole the spotlight is its Air Swipe bag, which is made of 99 percent air and one percent glass.

According to the brand, the bag is made of The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) nanomaterial silica aerogel, the lightest solid on planet Earth. This tech is developed by Dr. Ioannis Michaloudis, an academic, visual artist, and researcher internationally acknowledged as one of the leaders in Art&Science and the first-ever creator and investigator on the application of NASA’s nanomaterial silica aerogel in Fine Arts, as per the American University of Cyprus.

“This very delicate (and non-fragile) nanomaterial has been used by NASA to capture stardust: because it can withstand extreme heat (1200o Celsius) and a pressure of 4000 times its weight,” Coperni posted on Instagram. “This Air Swipe bag is the biggest ever object made of this space technology nanomaterial.”

While its creation pushes the boundaries in terms of fashion design, many are asking if the Air Swipe can “serve the function of a bag.” Coperni’s Instagram runners replied, “It can hold an iPhone ;).”

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