Hermès FW24: Empowering Women

What makes Hermès the main luxury house in the world? In addition to the perfection of literally every single thing bearing the label, there is also something else. It is an elusive quality, difficult to explain and even more difficult to reproduce, but at the same time an essential one — which we call understatement. This quality is the ability to present the most uncompromising luxury in the most serene and nonchalant way, to put forward something completely exceptional from every point of view including its price as something natural and even simple, and, unlike for many of their competitors, for Hermès this is an immanent characteristic, a natural attribute, so to speak. This has nothing to do with quiet luxury that we are hearing so much about these days, and which is an absolutely invented, artificially constructed concept. You will not find the name Hermès on any piece of clothing from this collection, but at the same time each one is absolutely recognizable at the very first glance. Is it a quiet luxury? I’m not sure, but I do know that this is the ultimate luxury.

It has been a long time since Hermès women looked so strong — the constant equestrian motifs and not so regular references to bikers created a true synergy here. Nadège Vanhee, artistic director of the women’s collections, says that the references for this collection came, among other things, from Britain — which we also can find in Hermès history just remembering Jean Paul Gaultier’s FW2010 Anglophilia collection — and there really are a lot of the British classics in it: heavy trench coats, raincoats, riding jackets and boots, removable quilted pads, all looking like they just came from The Crown series. But Hermès women derive their strength not so much in these very sophisticated items, but, above all, in total leather looks — in voluminous jackets with round shoulders that have an inner belt you can use to cinch the waist, in the tight, body-hugging stretch leather trousers, cropped and slightly flared, in Nadège Vanhee’s signature leather tops with straps around the neck, in tightly fitting, elongated vests buttoned up to the chin. On a separate note, the collection had two completely insane pieces: some sort of a short shearling apron/vest and a leather bomber jacket with silk quilted sleeves and embroidery with glossy ostrich feathers cut in two to imitate a horse mane. The few silk dresses with 1970s silhouettes that made it into this collection only emphasized this concentrated power, creating a supporting contrast with their fragility.

And what colours were used! It goes without saying that the choice of palette and colour combinations is always a strong point for Hermès, but this time the colours were especially captivating and, yes, also strong. Rich burgundy, dense chocolate, the softest shade of unique étoupe d'Hermès, as well as the colour of freshly beaten French butter and a shining, burning scarlet of some unimaginable intensity. All of them made a strong impression both on the podium and on closer inspection in the showroom.

Nine years ago, Nadège Vanhee began her stint at Hermès with just such strong and even austere women, and this strength was her statement from the very first collection, but then this stern chic faded somewhat from her work. And now this rigor and austerity are returning to Hermès, but in a new form, combined not with aloofness, but with confidence and even sexiness, but exactly of the kind that only Hermès can have, without any sexualization, exploitation, and . Well, may the Force be with.

Text: Elena Stafyeva