Prim, proper, rich but understated, with a wardrobe full of tailoring and investment pieces — the bourgeois look has been a cornerstone of French fashion for decades, perhaps nowhere more so than at Hermès.
But Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski has emerged as a torchbearer for a new Parisienne, one who might wear a classic blazer or fitted skirt but in a modern way — and flash some leg while doing it. “It’s about a woman being assertive in their femininity, and owning her body,” the designer said.
After last season’s runway excursion to Le Bourget airport, Hermès landed back at the Garde Républicaine for its fall runway show, paring back the theatrics and letting the clothes shine.
They deserved the spotlight.
Vanhee-Cybulski has brought a new relevancy to the brand’s ready-to-wear, showing the kind of pieces women will want to reach for every day (if they can afford it), that strike a balance between sensuality and practicality.
For fall, she worked in a black-and-white and earthy palette that was a refreshing break from the season’s traffic-stopping brights. The designer tapped the body-con side of equestrian, namely the breeches and jodhpurs, as inspiration for sleek catsuits, curve-tracing tops with hardware details, leggings, and HotPants worn with thigh-high tights and over-the-knee boots, for a look that was more “Emily in Paris” than Rive Gauche madam.
Leather pieces had a chic modernity, like the fitted black striped blazer and miniskirt that opened the show, and a pleated leather skirt with sheer knit insets that made it look weightless in stride. Other skirts had folded leather waistbands with hardware details, making them resemble the fronts of the house’s famed handbags, and perhaps could spark a similar frenzy.
The outerwear was also lush. A black shearling pullover with leather storm flap might be the most luxe version of a Patagonia fleece to date, while an olive car coat with leather piping and bridle details — over a miniskirt, natch — was executed with razor-like precision.
There was plenty in the way of covetable new accessories, too — belts with a cursive H buckle, the new 22 bag with a tough-looking zipper, and a reworked mini Kelly with hardware askew “as if it were dancing,” said Vanhee-Cybulski.
“It’s a fusion of tradition and modernity. We have to know where we come from and who we are, but it’s also good to have the unexpected, and to be confident,” said the designer, sounding a note of positivity in these tough times. “We’re going to make it.”
