Most Innovative Companies 2022
September 15, 2022 By Justin Manly, Michael Ringel, Ramón Baeza, Will Cornock, John Paschkewitz, Amy Hurwitz, Johann D. Harnoss, Konstantinos Apostolatos, Wendi Backler, Hubertus Meinecke, Lara Koslow, Cornelius Pieper, Stefan Gross-Selbeck, Shalini Unnikrishnan, Rahool Panandiker, and Norihiko Sano, all from Boston Consulting Group.
Two-thirds of the companies in BCG’s 2022 global innovation survey ranked climate and sustainability (C&S) as a top corporate priority. But only about one in five is ready to act.
Are You Ready?
More big companies make net-zero pledges every day. But only a few are prepared to develop the product, process, and business model innovations that can deliver on those pledges. For them, C&S is a matter of redirection rather than reinvention.
What Does It Take?
This year, BCG’s Most Innovative Companies report examines the attributes that help prepare companies to tackle C&S challenges through innovation.
Download the full report
bcg-most-innovative-companies-2022-sep-2022-1.pdf
Or you can jump straight into each of our three individual analyses:
- The Sustainability Innovation Gap
- How Sustainability Leaders Innovate
- Digging Deep for Sustainable Innovations
The Top 50 Are Ready
Many of the companies on our 2022 list of the 50 most innovative companies were among the earliest to embrace environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles and to establish decarbonization commitments. Almost 80 % (39) rank among the top C&S innovators, according to global peer votes.
16 Years of the Most Innovative Companies
BCG has kept its finger on the pulse of corporate innovation—and the most innovative companies—for much of the past two decades. Learn more about our rankings in the collection or collections below.
In most years since 2003, BCG has published an annual innovation report identifying the world’s most innovative companies, assessing the overall state of corporate innovation, and examining how top performers organize, direct, and fuel their innovation engines. During this period, we have seen remarkable product innovations (for example, the first smartphones, the rise of electric vehicles, and myriad lifesaving and life-enhancing advances in health care), as well as major developments in technology and its impact on business and operating models. Progress continues today, faster than ever.
Explore Past Reports of the Top 50 Most Innovative Companies
There have been many changes in the list over time, including newcomers not previously ranked in the top 50 and companies that return after a temporary absence. But our annual rankings of the 50 most innovative companies reveal continuity as well as dynamism: many especially innovative players earn recognition for new accomplishments year in and year out. This provides clear evidence that companies equipped with the most productive innovation engines know how to stay on top of the innovation game.
In our first innovation report, we observed that companies need to manage the innovation process in an integrated fashion “because what happens in one area often has implications elsewhere. Furthermore, globalization and recent developments in technology have amplified both the challenges and the opportunities associated with innovation.” Learn more about how these macro trends have developed and how they have altered the way companies invent and reinvent products, processes, and business models.
Explore More Innovative Company Reports Through The Years
Meet Our Most Innovative Companies Report Team
Managing Director & Senior Partner, Global Business Leader for Disruption & Reinvention
Managing Director & Senior Partner
Meet Our Innovation Consultants and Experts
BCG’s innovation consultants partner with leading companies to arrive at solutions in innovation strategy and delivery, R&D, and more. These are our featured experts on this topic.
Global Leadership
Managing Director & Senior Partner, Global Business Leader for Disruption & Reinvention
- Innovation Strategy and Delivery
- International Business
- Pricing and Revenue Management
- Marketing and Sales
- Innovation Strategy and Delivery
- Corporate Finance and Strategy
Featured Experts
Managing Director & Senior Partner
- Biopharma
- Innovation Strategy and Delivery
- Operations
Partner & Director, Creativity & Scenarios
- Corporate Finance and Strategy
- Innovation Strategy and Delivery
- Change Management
Partner & Director, Innovation Analytics & IP
- Technology Industry
- Innovation Strategy and Delivery
- Business Strategy
DV Managing Director & Partner
Managing Director & Partner, BCG Digital Ventures
- Consumer Products Industry
- Technology, Media, and Telecommunications
- Industrial Goods
Managing Director & Senior Partner
- Downstream Oil & Gas: Refining & Petrochemicals
- Fuel Retail
- Natural Gas and LNG
Associate Director, Innovation Strategy
- Corporate Finance and Strategy
- Consumer Products Industry
- Innovation Strategy and Delivery
Partner and Associate Director, Innovation
BCG Henderson Institute Fellow
- Innovation Strategy and Delivery
- Economic Development
- Corporate Finance and Strategy
Partner and Vice President, Global IoT, BCG Digital Ventures
- Internet of Things
- Innovation Strategy and Delivery
- Deep Tech
DV Managing Director & Partner, Head of Asia Pacific & Japan
- Consumer Products Industry
- Retail Industry
- Technology, Media, and Telecommuni
Inside Kristina O’Neill’s 10th Anniversary Party in Paris
More than 150 guests gathered just off the Champs-Élysées to toast the WSJ. Magazine editor in chief’s decade-long tenure.
By WSJ. Magazine
Oct. 4, 2022
Paris Fashion Week got a visit from pop royalty Janet Jackson this season. Following her appearance at Thom Browne’s fashion show, she and close friend Christian Louboutin celebrated at Café Lapérouse, where they toasted Kristina O’Neill’s 10 years as editor in chief of WSJ. Magazine. Jackson, under an Eiffel Tower of hair crowned by a red, white and blue ribbon, held court at a back bar while Oscar winner Jared Leto took a break from his bike rides around Paris to stop in. Inditex chair Marta Ortega Pérez, designer Riccardo Tisci and model Irina Shayk came straight from Kanye West’s provocative surprise show. Ashley Graham shimmied for photographers in smoky Sophia Loren–style makeup and jewels. Louis Vuitton executive vice president Delphine Arnault joined WSJ. Magazine contributor Derek Blasberg, while Alexa Chung, Poppy Delevingne, Kelly Sawyer Patricof and Moda Operandi’s Lauren Santo Domingo claimed a corner banquette. Fashion mogul Diego Della Valle and CEOs Francesca Bellettini and Cédric Charbit mixed with a crowd including Jessica Seinfeld and Karlie Kloss, who wore a crowd-parting sequin gown handmade by designer Olivier Theyskens the night before. Model-author Emily Ratajkowski closed out the night by congratulating O’Neill, heralding a return to high spirits in Paris after the pandemic-dampened hiatus. Scroll to see inside the glittering event:
The Devil Wears Costco and USD 44 Pants: Fashion Insiders’ Favourite Low-Cost Basics
Front-row fixtures including Alexa Chung, Vogue’s Edward Enninful and ‘Selling Sunset’ star Christine Quinn reveal their thrifty wardrobe secrets.
By Jamie Waters/ Photographs by F. Martin Ramin/ The Wall Street Journal, Styling by Lizzy Wholley, Set Styling by Judith Trezza, Model Rachel Waller/Muse Management, Hair and Makeup Magdalena Major/See Management
Oct. 8, 2022
PARIS FASHION WEEK just wrapped—and if you saw any snaps of A-listers, editors and stylists sitting front row, you may have noticed they were invariably wrapped in luxurious coats, calfskin handbags in tow. What you likely missed? The quiet, affordable basics that lots of fashion folk also rely on. The devil wears Prada, no question. But underneath the Prada, there might well be a USD 15 Muji T-shirt and thick Costco socks. The devil can’t resist a pack of six-for-USD 19 Hanes ribbed tank tops. The devil goes gaga for a bargain.
“It’s a misconception that people in the fashion industry are wearing head-to-toe designer—that’s absolutely not the case,” said Alexa Chung, the British designer and model. “They’re thrifty as [expletive].” We asked industry insiders to reveal their secret low-cost saviors. These are not flimsy knockoffs of high-end designs bought to wear once in pursuit of a fad. Rather, they are dependable, unadorned staples that fill gaps in outfits, like sartorial grout. Mass-market brands known for basics are often unwilling to take chances on design because their wares must have broad appeal, said Ms. Chung. That means for a small price, you can find spartan items that go with anything. And eagle-eyed fashionistas can spot the unassuming gems worth snapping up.
“I do like Costco,” said Christine Quinn, the star of “Selling Sunset,” the Netflix reality show about glitzy Los Angeles realtors. You can almost hear her 3.3 million Instagram followers gasp. Ms. Quinn is synonymous with high-octane glamour, conducting house viewings in neon-green Balenciaga heels and glaring at co-stars through bejewelled Gucci sunglasses. Off-screen, however, she’s no stranger to black Costco leggings and ribbed Uniqlo crop tops. “It’s all about sustainability,” she said, before clarifying: “When I say ‘sustainability,’ I’m not talking about the environment—although that’s great—I’m talking about your wallet.” In a sentiment that may sound familiar, Ms. Quinn said she spends less on everyday items in order to splurge on a statement purse.
“Everybody I know with style mixes and matches high and low [priced items],” said Edward Enninful, the editor in chief of British Vogue. “All my friends do: Kate Moss, Naomi [Campbell], you name it.” Mr. Enninful, a minimalist dresser, favors two styles from British high-street retailer Marks & Spencer: classic white cotton shirts (“I’ve got so many!”); and flat-front, wool-blend trousers. He said the pants, which often cost about USD 44, go nicely with his Prada trench. (M&S advertises in British Vogue, but Mr. Enninful said he buys all his own pieces from the brand.)
Hanes’s men’s tank top was a favorite among interviewees, no matter their gender. Wearers include Ms. Quinn; Amy Smilovic, the founder of womenswear brand Tibi; and Los Angeles stylist and designer Ugo Mozie. Unlike overly edgy designer tanks, this simple ribbed cotton number—in white or black—perfectly suits Mr. Mozie’s needs. He said it’s likely the most versatile item in his closet: It’s equally at home tucked into jeans or slipped under a tux and, once frayed, it goes into retirement as a gym top. Whether he’s wearing it to work or workout, he likes that he can throw it on and needn’t stress about getting it stained, he said.
New York stylist Michael Fisher feels the same way about his no-frills Dickies painter’s pants. At just $30 from Lowe’s, they’re as inexpensive as they are sturdy. And once a pair is well-worn, Mr. Fisher will often take scissors to the hems to “give them a new life” as cropped pants. You don’t have to be so precious with them, he said. Ms. Smilovic has an equally neat trick to amend her Feiyue canvas kicks, which cost $30 from Walmart. Furnished with a green-arrow logo, the unisex sneakers attract more compliments than almost any other item in Ms. Smilovic’s wardrobe—but she finds them a tad flimsy underfoot. Her fix? Dr. Scholl’s insoles, which she slips inside for a fortified base.
Many fashionistas spoke about their basics in heartfelt terms more typically associated with pricey heirlooms. Consumer psychologist Peter Noel Murray wasn’t surprised. Mass-market items whose designs remain unchanged over decades can stir emotion in wearers, he said, because they represent qualities like stability and familiarity. Most folks—including those who would grow up to walk red carpets or edit glossy magazines—were surrounded by unfussy staples in their youth, not vicuña coats. Mr. Enninful started wearing M&S clothes as a schoolboy after his family arrived in London as refugees from Ghana. His father wore M&S pants similar to the ones Mr. Enninful dons today. The brand, he said, “has always been a sign of family…[it] gives me comfort.”
Despite such affection, there is a growing unease surrounding low-cost clothes, said Elizabeth L. Cline, a journalist specializing in consumer culture who wrote the 2012 book “Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion.” As the sustainability movement has snowballed, the idea that mass-market brands encourage overconsumption and are always bad has become dominant, she said. But lately Ms. Cline has come to rethink that generalization (and her book’s thesis). Often, she said, there does not seem to be a “huge dividing line” between the footprints of brands that make inexpensive staples and those producing luxury wares. She buys lots of her basics from Gap.
To reduce your environmental impact, buy things you’ll wear over and over again—cheap or not—said Maxine Bédat, founder of the New Standard Institute, a sustainable-fashion nonprofit in New York. And to avoid impulse buys you’ll quickly tire of, remember your style codes when faced with a bargain, said Ms. Smilovic. If purple has never been your color, resist adding that puce top to the cart simply because it costs less than your lunch.
When styling basics, Ms. Smilovic practices contrast. She usually pairs her canvas sneakers with formal tailoring. Similarly, Mr. Fisher balances his Dickies with a smartish shirt or Prada boots—not Vans, which he said would leave him looking like a skater kid. Another fail-safe trick, said Ms. Chung, is to combine basics in the same colour family. She recalls seeing a recent photo shoot in which a brown shirt was worn over a crimson turtleneck. “Those are two items you could probably get at Uniqlo and the [styling] makes it look expensive.”
Ms. Chung, who likes J.Crew turtlenecks and Uniqlo sweaters, tries to shop for basics in person to feel the fabric quality. Things don’t always go to plan. Last Christmas she was browsing in & Other Stories, an H&M-owned brand, when a stranger confronted her. The woman, perplexed that a famous fashion plate would be in such a place, blurted, “What are you doing here?” To which Ms. Chung replied: “What are you doing? I’m shopping!”
Stylish Staples—for USD 50 or Less—That Would Befit a Fashion Insider
Stylist Ugo Mozie swears by Hanes tank tops in white or black. Mr. Mozie wears his with jeans, under suits and to the gym. Tank Top, Pack of six for USD 19, Hanes.com
With basics, choose fabrics—like the 100 % cotton of this Gap shirt—that you’d want against your skin for a long time, said sustainability expert Maxine Bédat. Shirt, USD 50, Gap.com
These subtle Muji canvas sneakers, like the Japanese brand’s long-sleeved tees and merino-wool crewnecks, have a quiet sturdiness. Sneakers, USD 30, Muji.us
Designer Alexa Chung likes J.Crew turtlenecks. And this cotton “tissue” model makes an ideal base layer. Play it safe with navy—or, for something less predictable, pick pale pink. Turtleneck, USD 40, JCrew.com
Uniqlo is great for “comfy clothes that don’t break the bank,” said reality star Christine Quinn. These Uniqlo pants would be a solid anchor for any outfit. Pants, USD 50, Uniqlo.com
Amy Smilovic, founder of womenswear brand Tibi, gets compliments when she wears Feiyue kicks with suits. Hers have a green logo. Sneakers, USD 30, Feiyue-Shoes.com
The Wall Street Journal is not compensated by retailers listed in its articles as outlets for products. Listed retailers frequently are not the sole retail outlets.
Huma Abedin Sets the Record Straight
On the eve of the paperback release of her bestselling memoir, ‘Both/And,’ Abedin discusses campaigning with Hillary Clinton, co-parenting with Anthony Weiner, working with Anna Wintour on her book and whether or not she’s dating.
By Derek Blasberg | Photography by Jingyu Lin for WSJ. Magazine
Oct. 3, 2022
After promoting her memoir, Both/And, for more than a year, Huma Abedin is shocked that this is the first time she’s been asked: When was the last time you visited the White House? “Honestly, I don’t remember,” the 47-year-old political strategist says. She leans back in her chair at an outdoor cafe on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, brushing back her hair as she thinks out loud. “Let’s see; I didn’t go during the Trump years,” she recalls. “I haven’t been in the Biden years.” The last time was in late 2016, at the end of Barack Obama’s presidency as she was winding down her role as the vice chair of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Does she miss it? “The short answer is that, at 20, that feeling of walking through those gates and up those stairs: It’s never going to be the same,” she says, reminiscing about the White House internship that brought her into Clinton’s orbit 26 years ago. “No, I don’t miss it.”
Both/And, which comes out in paperback on October 4, charts Abedin’s childhood in Michigan and adolescence in Saudi Arabia, where her father (a professor of American Civilization who ran the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs) died in 1993, when she was 16. It details her career working for Clinton, first in the first lady’s West Wing office, then in the U.S. Senate, the office of the Secretary of State and through her failed 2016 presidential campaign, which was rattled after the FBI opened an investigation into classified emails on the personal laptop of Abedin’s husband at the time, Anthony Weiner. It details the dissolution of Abedin’s marriage to the former New York congressman after he was caught sending lewd images via Twitter. For a story about having a husband imprisoned for sexting a minor and her boss losing a campaign for the highest office of the land, Abedin’s book is both soul crushing and surprisingly optimistic.
“Most of the book was written at the Roosevelt Cottage at Anna Wintour’s country home [in Mastic, Long Island, in 2019]. I thought it was a great gift. But what I’m realizing now is that it was her idea in the first place to write the memoir, which she mentioned to me right after the election,” Abedin says. “I was definitely procrastinating. And I was a single parent at the time, because Anthony was in prison.” (Weiner pleaded guilty to transferring obscene material to a minor, started serving a federal prison sentence in 2017 and was released in 2019.)
However, Wintour insisted she move into her guest house, enroll her son, Jordan (now 10), in a local summer camp and focus. “The first person to actually read pages was Anna. I would print and deliver it like homework. She wasn’t nitty-gritty line editing. It was framing and big-picture edits. But it was the, ‘Why is this important?’”
One of the first people to read a full draft was Clinton, who Abedin says was surprised to read how much trauma Abedin managed to keep to herself. “A lot of it was shame,” Abedin says. “I have a chapter in the book called ‘Elephant in the Room.’ It was sort of self-protection.” She describes what happened when former FBI director James Comey announced he was investigating Abedin’s emails on Weiner’s laptop, which was confiscated in his sexting investigation, 10 days before Election Day 2016. News broke when the entire campaign team was on a plane, leaving Abedin in tears and the presidential candidate switching to maternal mode. “Hillary was like, ‘We gotta get ice cream! Let’s get ice cream for everybody.’ ‘Cause she knows I love ice cream,” Abedin says. (The FBI closed the investigation two days before Election Day with no new findings.)
“The first person to actually read pages was Anna [Wintour]. I would print and deliver it like homework.” – Huma Abedin
Since Abedin’s book was published in 2021, it has become a bestseller, and the rights were sold to Freebird Films (Freida Pinto’s production company), which announced Pinto would produce and play Abedin in a limited television series.
When Abedin finishes dinner, she orders a cup of decaf cappuccino. After two decades in public service and on and off the campaign trail, where she’d chug up to 15 cups of coffee per day, she’s finally monitoring her caffeine intake. “So much of what happened to me professionally felt like I was floating in a cauldron, and so much about this book is about taking control,” she says.
Here, Abedin talks to WSJ. about the joy of writing about her childhood, finding time to date and co-parenting with Weiner.
Derek Blasberg: Do you ever wonder, What if Hillary Clinton had won?
Huma Abedin: All the time—almost every day. How different the world would have been. That part of what it could have been and what it should have been is going to be something that I take to my grave.
DB: After years of you trying to stay out of headlines, your book repositioned you as a public person. How has that been to voluntarily step into the limelight?
HA: I found that when I was working for Hillary and traveling on the campaign we’d go to rallies and coffee shops and I would feel this sense of enthusiasm and—elation. I can’t think of a better word than that. I’d feel the same way when I was with Anthony when he was serving in Congress. We couldn’t walk down the street in New York City without somebody stopping him and saying thank you for fighting for us. But know what’s crazy? The irony is that now I’m in that space I’m a little ambivalent about it.
DB: You don’t appreciate the enthusiasm? Really?
HA: I don’t know that I need it for me. I love talking to people and I love hearing their stories but I don’t feel like I want the attention. I was that bride who walked down the aisle and felt like, Why is everyone looking at me?
DB: The book reminds readers you’ve devoted your entire life to public service. What is it about public service that drew you in?
HA: I was an idealist. I was 20 [when I started my career]. It’s the idea that you could change the world. I was a 21-year-old landing in Jordan for King Hussein’s funeral. I knew everything about the culture; I could translate on behalf of the delegation; there’s this feeling like you’re an ambassador. I say this to advance teams even now for Hillary: You are [a country’s] first introduction. When you leave Jordan or Morocco or London, they’re not going to say, “Huma Abedin is terrible.” They are going to say Hillary Clinton’s terrible.
DB: You liked that weight of responsibility.
HA: Maybe this is a narcissistic way of looking at it, but you do feel all-powerful. You feel like you can do something. “Let me take your card,” wherever we are and when we fly back [to Washington, D.C.] and Hillary becomes president we can do something about a person’s problem. There is a sense of possibility and change and making things happen.
DB: On the flip side of that, your career in public service put you on a public podium that ended up causing so much emotional turmoil. Was there ever a moment when you regretted not becoming a suburban lawyer or a doctor?
HA: My brother is a professor and [has a] Ph.D. My oldest sister is a medical doctor. I’m the least educated person in my family! Growing up, I wanted to be Christiane Amanpour. It’s funny because when she interviewed me for the book and I was fangirling, I said to her producer, “Is it OK if I tell her how much I love her?” And the producer was like, “Let’s just do the interview.” So, the short answer is no. I have lived an extraordinary life, I witnessed history, I’ve participated in history that I can’t even imagine. I have to take my dad’s motto: Our eyes are on the front of our head for a reason. You’ve got to move forward.
DB: You write movingly about your father, including about being there the day he died. Was there a part that stands out as particularly difficult or therapeutic to write about?
HA: Nothing about it was hard. It was a joy re-creating those moments of childhood and the magic. In part, this book is about discovering truth. One of the chapter titles is “Truth Hurts.” When I was a little girl, I didn’t know my father’s secret [about being ill with progressive renal failure].
DB: You write that he never picked you up like other dads, which you now know was because he was so weak.
HA: There were so many magical [memories]: We’re in Thailand, we’re in Paris, we’re in Vienna. The truth was they didn’t know how long he had. This is the hard part: I’m 47. He was 46 when he was diagnosed and was told he had five years to get his affairs in order. When I finished writing the book and had to record the audio version, the only paragraph I could not get through without breaking down and crying is when I share the story about my struggle with making the decision to marry Anthony and going to London and seeing my older sister and falling in her arms. Even though I was raised by a man who taught me to be strong and bold and fearless, here I was on the cusp of this big decision and I didn’t know that I could make it without him.
DB: A year ago, during your first television interview, you mentioned that you were embarking on a year of saying yes. How’d it go?
HA: I said yes to taking time for myself in a way that I never had. In my previous life, it was all about work and whatever was left over [was for personal life]. I went on a girls’ trip this summer on a girlfriend’s boat in the south of France, which I never in a million years would have done before. It would have seemed so frivolous! Towards the end of the book, I write that I have allowed myself to be open to things, meet people and take time to heal myself. I don’t feel guilty about getting a massage! This is all good therapy. And good healing.
DB: Are you dating?
HA: I put dating in the category of one of the things I did not allow myself to be open to for many years, particularly when I was living in New York in the early 2000s, when Hillary was in the Senate and it was a very glamorous time in New York. I was invited to so many dinner parties and there’d be all these women I found to be much smarter, much more beautiful, much more everything. Here I was, this serious little political aide in a suit. I never expected to be the woman that any of these men left with and I was OK with that because to allow for that kind of relationship would mean that I would have less time to work. Less time to focus.
DB: But now you’re focused on yourself, right? Is it still the year of saying yes to dating?
HA: Yes, I’m open to all kinds of saying yes!
DB: You discuss the reasons why your divorce proceedings were postponed in the book, which wasn’t because of a reconciliation, as was reported. Are you officially divorced now?
HA: It’s basically done. Yes, we’re in the final stages. We had to [postpone the court dates] for privacy and, frankly, even the idea of going back into that courthouse I found triggering. I have felt divorced for a very long time, but there are a few end-stage things we need to do [to make it official].
DB: In the book, you vividly outline many of the most difficult moments with Anthony. How do the two of you approach co-parenting now?
HA: Our son has learned some hard truths about his parents and their public lives. And the maturity with which he’s handled it—I’m really proud of him. When Anthony had to go away [to prison] and Jordan was 7, I had so much anger and resentment towards his dad. [In the book,] I talked about the idea of shame upon shame. My way of dealing was taking my son on adventures to distract him. We had six months of going to all these amazing places, like Martha’s Vineyard, Long Island, Abu Dhabi. We ended up in Hawaii for Christmas, and we met a little boy on the beach. It’s the end of a very long night. We go to dinner with his family, and the boy stands up and puts his hands up towards his father so his daddy picks him up. My little boy looks at this scene and breaks down and says, “I want my daddy, I want my daddy!” That was my lightbulb moment. That was the day I decided I would not be ashamed about where my son would have to go to see his father. I took him to see his dad [in prison], and he was giddy and was so excited. When [Weiner] was released, we made a decision that there were going to be no secrets in this family, that we would always be sources of truth for him, that we wanted him to learn from us before learning something on social media or through his friends. And somehow, as shocking as this might be, Anthony and I have found our way back to this kind of core. He was my best friend before we became anything else, and we will always have this connection because we’ll always be a family.
A Spray-On Dress Caused a Ruckus in Paris
And Bella Hadid had the best day of her life so far.
Published Oct. 2, 2022 Updated Oct. 4, 2022
PARIS — Of course it was going to go viral. The performance at the end of Coperni’s fashion show on Friday night offered many of the internet’s favourite things: a nearly-naked supermodel, 1990s fashion nostalgia and a high-ranking member of the Kardashian-Jenner family in the vicinity to bear witness.
But the stunt was also, for many people in the crowd, genuinely impressive. For about nine minutes, they watched a white, off-shoulder dress being sprayed onto Bella Hadid’s body. The substance — a patented spray-on fabric developed by a London-based company called Fabrican — looked like spider webs at first, until the fibrous layers thickened, instantly drying into a pebbled fabric and effectively mummifying the model.
In pictures the dress looked as if it could be a kind of silk or cotton, but to the touch, it felt soft but elastic, bumpy like a sponge.
Technology motivated the performance: The Parisian brand Coperni is named after the Renaissance mathematician and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. Founded in 2013, the brand is interested in fusing science, craft and fashion, and made headlines earlier this year when its handblown glass bag, on sale for 2,700 euros, was carried by Doja Cat on the Grammy Awards red carpet. “I’m a little bit of a geek,” Coperni’s creative director Sébastien Meyer said.
While Ms. Hadid’s dress isn’t strictly sellable (or rewearable, for anyone without her exact body measurements), Coperni does plan to display it in its showroom. The dress could be taken off like any other tight, slightly stretchy one: a process of peeling off and shimmying out. It can be hung and washed, or put back into the bottle of its original solution to regenerate, according to Coperni’s chief executive, Arnaud Vaillant.
But really, the point of the dress was the drama of its creation — in line with fashion’s rich tradition of live-on-the-runway showmanship. For his spring 1999 show, the designer Lee Alexander McQueen had two robots spray-paint a dress worn by Shalom Harlow.
The spray-on dress was not in homage to the McQueen moment, Mr. Vaillant said: “It’s totally different.” Instead of robots, for example, there was the inventor Manel Torres and a member of his Fabrican team spraying Ms. Hadid as she stood on a small square illuminated stage in the middle of the runway. Mr. Torres, who founded Fabrican in 2003, has long been exploring ways to use spray-on fabric. (Fashion is one; medical bandages and casts are others.)
Toward the end of Ms. Hadid’s spraying, Charlotte Raymond, Coperni’s head of design, walked onstage. She used her hands to help shape the straps and neckline of Ms. Hadid’s newly materialized dress as it was drying. Then she cut the hem and one long leg slit into the fabric.
Mr. Vaillant said he felt “it would have been a bit pretentious for Sébastien to do it. We wanted something more humble” — something to reflect the team effort behind the stunt. Coperni had only about five opportunities to practice the performance, including once the night before the show, with a model standing in for Ms. Hadid. The stand-in couldn’t control her shivering on the already chilly runway, as the even-colder spray-on material hit her skin, and as she breathed in its thick, glue-like odor.
Ms. Hadid’s Paris Fashion Week schedule didn’t allow for a rehearsal; the runway show was her first time being sprayed. “I was so nervous,” she later said backstage, but it didn’t show. She was alternately steely and delicate, occasionally raising her arms above her head with an elegant flair, or smiling at Ms. Raymond: “I kind of just became the character, whoever she is.”
Wasn’t it cold up there? “Honey, cold is an understatement,” Ms. Hadid said. “I really blacked out.”
Yet even less than a minute after leaving the runway, she said she already felt like the performance had been a “pinnacle moment” in her career. She was standing in the center of a crush of people — crew, friends, fellow models, Kylie Jenner in a pair of sunglasses that wouldn’t stay on her head — who had gathered to hug and kiss her and touch the alien dress on her body, telling her “congrats, diva,” that she was “un”-expletive- “believable,” that she was “insane.”
“I think that was the best moment of my life,” she said.
Newsletter of last Week
Model Paloma Elsesser on Turning 30 and “Moguling the F— Out” – Laurene Powell Jobs Is Giving It Her All – Ghosts of New York’s Glamourous Past Haunt an Empty Pub https://textile-future.com/archives/97537
News Highlights of last week for your convenience, just click on the items.
Automotives
The Atelier Renault on the Champs-Élysées in Paris is given a makeover https://textile-future.com/archives/97897
Opel and Vauxhall: Jung von Matt wins Opel-Pitch and launches office in London (UK) https://textile-future.com/archives/97906
Buyback Shares
Buybacks of shares by H&M during week 39, 2022 https://textile-future.com/archives/97562
Data
EU agricultural prices continued to rise in Q2 2022 https://textile-future.com/archives/97461
EU Road freight transport: +7 % in 2021 versus 2020 https://textile-future.com/archives/97474
EU Inland waterways 2021: freight transport up by 3 % https://textile-future.com/archives/97481
The McKinsey week in Charts https://textile-future.com/archives/97497
Swiss Consumer prices fell by 0.2% in September 2022 https://textile-future.com/archives/97552
Fewer than 1000 suicides in 2020 – long-term trend shows continued decline in Switzerland https://textile-future.com/archives/97581
EU agri-food trade remains stable https://textile-future.com/archives/97644
Orders to leave the EU and returns up 16 % in Q2 2022 https://textile-future.com/archives/97675
EU Recovery in cultural employment; gender gap narrows https://textile-future.com/archives/97682
How expensive is your cup of coffee? https://textile-future.com/archives/97765
Ukrainians granted temporary protection in August https://textile-future.com/archives/97880
EU Rents up by 18 %, house prices by 48 % since 2010 https://textile-future.com/archives/97888
EU
100 more regions and local authorities join the EU Mission for Adaptation to Climate Change https://textile-future.com/archives/97452
EU Commission clears acquisition of joint control of Lotos-Air BP Polska by Aramco Overseas Company and BP Europa https://textile-future.com/archives/97457
EU Commissioner Gabriel visits Silicon Valley to discuss deep-tech innovation https://textile-future.com/archives/97673
InvestEU in Italy: first four projects and first guarantee agreement with national promotional bank signed https://textile-future.com/archives/97877
Japan could benefit from EU experiences as study points to challenges in its offshore wind rules https://textile-future.com/archives/97903
Innovations
WIPO: Global Innovation Index 2022 https://textile-future.com/archives/97651
OECD
Tertiary education rates reach record high, with more efforts needed to expand vocational education and training, says OECD https://textile-future.com/archives/97669
Personalities
Iris Kornacker is the new CEO of POLYPOINT https://textile-future.com/archives/97591
Velocix appoints Brickmeier as CEO https://textile-future.com/archives/97806
Outsourcing
77% of EU companies sourcing abroad do it in the EU https://textile-future.com/archives/97736
Minerals
Medallion Resources And ACDC Metals Enter Into Definitive Agreement For Utilising The Medallion Monazite Process In Southern Australia https://textile-future.com/archives/97707
New Products
Quality Street announces move to recyclable paper wrappers https://textile-future.com/archives/97543
XSYS introduces enhanced Woodpecker Nevis surface screening https://textile-future.com/archives/97569
Professorship
Swiss Rieter and the Johann Jacob Rieter Foundation Sponsor Professorship for Artificial Intelligence at the ZHAW https://textile-future.com/archives/97855
Research
Swiss Empa: Intelligent assistance system to reduce airplanes’ environmental footprint Less noise and better fuel efficiency during approach https://textile-future.com/archives/97788
Sustainability
Asahi Photoproducts Achieves Carbon Neutral Certification for AWP™-DEW CleanPrint Flexo Plates https://textile-future.com/archives/97583
Lenzing reaches further milestones in photovoltaic and e-mobility expansion https://textile-future.com/archives/97647
BASF at K 2022: Making Insulation More Sustainable. New Elastopor®, Elastopir® and Elastospray® Systems Containing Recycled Plastics https://textile-future.com/archives/97689
BASF and Hannong Chemicals are planning to establish a production joint venture for the commercial production of non-ionic surfactants in Asia Pacific https://textile-future.com/archives/97784
Teachers
Happy World Teachers’ Day! https://textile-future.com/archives/97726
TV
Habets to lead ProSiebenSat.1 https://textile-future.com/archives/97702
Call for EC action on live content piracy https://textile-future.com/archives/97832
Ofcom launches cloud market study https://textile-future.com/archives/97845
Video Games
Bank: “Video game market remains soft” https://textile-future.com/archives/97863
Webinars
Groz-Beckert digital event: The Fabric Year 2022 https://textile-future.com/archives/97447
WIPO webinar on copyright infrastructure – Cutting-edge Initiatives in the Private Sector to Improve Data Management https://textile-future.com/archives/97469
Worldbank
Worldbank: Social and infrastructure investments can drive growth and shared prosperity in Latin America and the Caribbean https://textile-future.com/archives/97697
Worldbank: Global Progress in Reducing Extreme Poverty Grinds to a Halt https://textile-future.com/archives/97827
Worldbank: MENA economies grow by 5.5 % but benefits are uneven https://textile-future.com/archives/97836
Worldbank: Unprecedented Shocks Rattle South Asia, Exacerbating Challenges and Dampening Growth https://textile-future.com/archives/97849
WTO
Publics importance of youth engagement in trade and peacebuilding https://textile-future.com/archives/97490
WTO: Trade growth to slow sharply in 2023 as global economy faces strong headwinds https://textile-future.com/archives/97810
DG Okonjo-Iweala: Let WTO be an institution people can trust to deliver in difficult times https://textile-future.com/archives/97867