To understand this Hermès collection, it’s useful to start with the shoes. The majority of the looks were paired with glorified flip-flops—leather, not plastic, but otherwise essentially identical to the footwear you’d scuff around in at the beach, and an example of the casual made elegant that was at the crux of designer Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski’s vision for Resort. Either that, or she was making the elegant casual, as when she sheathed a leather Kelly bag in sunflower yellow cotton, almost like a raincoat. “It’s really about the attitude—this strong, relaxed, confident woman,” she said.
With that customer in her mind’s eye, Vanhee-Cybulski worked her way through the Hermès codes and threw in at least one surprise. Leather, so essential to the house heritage, was sublimely supple and cut into a pair of streamlined shirtdresses in moss green and granite-pink with silver hardware. Even lighter were another pair of frocks made of crepe to which thin strips of leather were stitched in a graphic grid. Horse blankets were cut into zip-front coats with drawstring waists and a tailored vest worn belted.
Scarf prints she used sparingly, but the square carré shape was a recurring motif that informed the collection’s best pieces: a series of midi dresses of which Vanhee-Cybulski said, “I wanted to explore new ways of working with fluidity.” When you marry a square hem to a circle, as she did on a cheery madras sundress with a cut-out at the midriff, the results are indeed quite graceful. The brown version will appeal to Hermès minimalists. As for the aforementioned surprise, it was lace, which she used for a pair of many-layered sleeveless dresses, the bodices of which she spliced with more squares in laser-cut leather. Extra points for the terrific musical accompaniment, Perfume Genius.
