Drew Henry Reset Courreges for Spring 2027 With a Pared-Back Debut at the Palais de Tokyo

Drew Henry presented his debut collection for Courreges on Wednesday morning at the Palais de Tokyo, opening a new chapter for the house with a stripped-back staging that put the focus squarely on the clothes rather than a large-scale set. Business of Fashion's profile of the appointment described the overall tone of Henry's arrival as "optimistic, clear, grounded," a markedly different register from the precision-cut, mostly monochromatic aesthetic his predecessor Nicolas Di Felice had built the brand around.

A set designed to disappear

Henry explained his thinking behind the pared-back venue directly to Vogue ahead of the show, saying "I wanted something very simple for the venue, and the focus to be on the clothes, on the casting," a statement that reads as a deliberate choice to let a debut collection stand on its own merits rather than lean on spectacle to make an impression. That restraint extended to the presentation itself, with guests arriving to a particularly bare set at the Palais de Tokyo before the collection's eventual colour and detailing carried the show.

Psychedelic Space Age, reworked

WWD's review of the show described the collection as leaning into the psychedelic facet of Courreges' Space Age heritage, with Henry zhuzhing up lean jackets and coats using raw edges and metallic logos, paired with thick belts sitting high on the waist and baggy trousers in a range of zesty colours. That combination, sharp tailoring details against loose, brightly coloured volume below, reads as Henry's attempt to claim a distinct identity within the brand's established futurist vocabulary rather than simply continuing where Di Felice left off.

A background built behind other designers

Henry arrives at Courreges after a career spent largely as a senior deputy rather than a headline name, having worked under Phoebe Philo at Celine, later serving as head of ready-to-wear at JW Anderson and head of design for Philo's own eponymous label, before most recently holding the role of senior design director at Burberry since 2023. A graduate of Central Saint Martins, his appointment reflects a pattern seen elsewhere in Paris this season of major houses turning to designers who built their reputations supporting established names rather than running their own labels first.

A confident, if imperfect, first outing

Early critical reaction landed on a similar note across outlets, crediting Henry with genuine ambition even where the execution had rough edges, with one assessment crediting him with "full marks for ballsiness" and concluding that "this confident, if imperfect, debut suggests he has plenty more ideas up his sleeve." That kind of reception, more interested in signalling potential than delivering a finished verdict, is typical for a first collection at a house with as distinct an existing identity as Courreges, where a new designer has to prove both fluency in the brand's codes and a reason for being there at all.

What the debut signals for the house

Di Felice had spent his tenure sharpening Courreges around precision cutting and a mostly monochromatic palette, so Henry's shift toward colour, texture and a more psychedelic reading of the brand's Space Age origins marks a genuine stylistic turn rather than a continuation under new management. Whether that turn resonates commercially will likely take more than one season to judge, but Wednesday's debut at least established clearly that Henry intends to put his own stamp on the house rather than simply maintain his predecessor's direction.