The invitation to Courrèges’ show was a sleek metal mobius strip, a subtle hint at Nicolas Di Felice’s spring collection. The concept of infinite loops was woven into the designs, where what seemed like separate pieces—like a tank dress paired with a bandeau—were actually one. Di Felice crafted these illusionary looks by creating halter-style dresses with a neck opening and a horizontal strap that wraps around the chest. Slip your head through, fasten the side snaps, and voilà—one seamless piece.

“We’re living in a time where everything feels like a return to something familiar, and I don’t just mean in fashion,” Di Felice explained during a preview. “I wanted to explore cycles and repetition. The mobius strip represents that beautifully: a simple piece of paper transformed into something with no start or end, no inside or outside.”

While the inspiration might sound intricate, the result was refreshingly straightforward. Di Felice took an archival duchess satin cape from André Courrèges’s 1962 collection as his starting point, but he reimagined it through a contemporary, youthful lens. The collection was undeniably sexy, brimming with the confident, cool energy that’s become his trademark.

He expanded on the mobius strip theme with inventive pieces, like trousers that featured an extra panel of fabric, wrapping from one leg, through the middle, and attaching behind the opposite leg. The half-pant, half-skirt creation felt entirely new, unlike anything seen on the runway before. Another standout was a barely-there dress that, when laid flat, was just a circle with a small armhole. Twisted and structured with light boning, it became the kind of piece made for a night out—a perfect blend of playful and provocative.

Di Felice’s time guest-designing couture for Jean Paul Gaultier seems to have elevated both his profile and his ambition. Crowds of screaming fans gathered outside the venue for Wooyoung from K-pop group Ateez, signaling just how much buzz the designer is generating. Originally, Di Felice considered creating 40 identical looks, but he thought that approach might come off as too cynical. Instead, he embraced evolution within the cycle, starting with his take on the 1962 cape and morphing it into a coat with an exaggerated hood, then into the halter dress, and so on.

In lesser hands, this kind of repetition could’ve fallen flat. But here, it became a showcase for Di Felice’s range, proving he can nail everything from sultry clubwear to high-fashion couture. His mastery of these elements kept the collection fresh, dynamic, and anything but predictable.