Chapter One: Paris
For the Paris chapter, Nadège Vanhée created a maze-like runway twisting through a landscape of soft moss and green undergrowth, recreating a dark blue sky inside the vast building of the Garde Républicaine. The mood was nocturnal and deliberate, a wardrobe built around chiaroscuro, materials transformed by light, colours moving from the warm hues of the sun’s final rays to the glints of moonlight.
Models wore military-style four-pocket jackets and coats in soft leather, salopettes, and jodhpurs, Hermès signatures, alongside coats built for protection with fur around the neck, collars that zipped into hoods, and quilted jackets with motorcycle padding on the shoulders. Black Cossack hats and thigh-high flat-heeled boots completed the look. The palette ran from oxblood to moss green, navy, and mustard, colours chosen with the same care Hermès puts into its leathers and cuts. Classic Kellys, structured Picotins, and slouchy Hobo bags in unexpected exotic leathers served as punctuation marks in the full-look narrative, with certain bags in brighter and neon-adjacent colours offering contrast for the more adventurous client.
Chapter Two: Los Angeles
The second chapter took place at Hotel Bel-Air on June 4th, drawing Miley Cyrus, Kerry Washington, and Natasha Lyonne to the front row. The California setting gave Vanhée room to push further. Planned golden-hour light enhanced soft leathers, suedes, silks, and chiffon, every look head-to-toe monochrome in black, brown, poppy red, buttery yellow, and aqua blue. A strapless yellow dress with an egg-shaped skirt, matched with suede riding boots, looked incredible. Black leather harnesses worn as bra tops with long flowing sheer chiffon skirts and boots pushed a posh-punk energy.
Vanhée described the collection as “the interplay of tension and release,” extending Hermès’ savoir-faire beyond its leather-and-silk heritage into flou, pushing far beyond the foundational silks and leathers of the house into nips, tucks, and coquettish skirt suits that demand couture-level craftsmanship. As a Frederic Sanchez remix of Kim Carnes’s “Bette Davis Eyes” closed the show, prompting Miley Cyrus to sing from the front row, one thing was clear: this is the freest Hermès has looked in a long time.
Two chapters, two cities, one consistent argument: that Hermès is still the house that does exactly what it wants, and makes it look effortless.
