Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski took a few weeks off this summer—she gave birth to her baby daughter in June. How had she managed her Spring Hermès collection in the meantime? “Organization and projection,” she said, laughing. She’d plotted out the show well in advance, taking the Hermès symbolism back to its fundamentals—the aprons worn by the craftspeople at the company’s headquarters in Pantin, France, and its saddlery tradition.
Honoring the specialist crafts which still exist in Paris fashion has been a key part of this season’s story—that, and the quest for values which will last longer than passing trends. Hermès is in pole position to demonstrate its superior claims on both points. Vanhee-Cybulski’s show, her best yet, provided a confident, modern essay on graphic minimalism with the personal bent that comes from her background as a girl who grew up in the ’90s.
The apron trope made a sophisticated starting point. It gave the designer a structural basis for cutting silhouettes reminiscent of ’90s tunics over pants and tailored shell tops—the twist being the cross-straps which were curved into the back views, leaving naked skin on show. Lightening and aerating the house leather, Vanhee-Cybulski developed a fine mesh, almost indistinguishable from a techno-fabric, which showed up in semi-sheer cargo pants and was implanted in an ecru denim tunic over shorts.
“I’m particularly excited by this—it’s leather backed on organdy!” she exclaimed, pointing out the way rectangular patchworks were placed in a grid on coats and dresses, apparently forming minute gaps in between each section. A black deerskin dress, edged with saddle-stitching, was constructed to wrap in front, fastened with a small buckle. “This we have skived so finely that it feels almost indistinguishable from silk when you wear it,” she said.
Modernity and heritage are a difficult balance to strike, but the general feeling in fashion for the style born out of the Helmut Lang era is to Vanhee-Cybulski’s advantage. Pared-back tailored trouser suits with a wide shoulder-head, slim coats and structured crossbody bags made a strong play for the sort of investment dressing working women have found difficult to source since Phoebe Philo left the scene.
All in all, the collection displayed the nuances of a super-luxury house, while focusing in on the substance of what women need from their wardrobes. Vanhee-Cybulski is getting her priorities in sync with the times.
