Nadège Vanhee never needs to expend a moment’s worry over whether Hermès fits into the ‘quiet luxury’ conversation—it’s the indubitable home of it. For spring, her collection was exactly that: discreet but extreme luxury Hermès dressing expressed in top-to-toenail tonal colors.
Backstage, the creative director was explaining that the colors—burgundy through putty, black, red and brown—are “actually those of the leather goods.” These shades are so specific to Hermès that they have names, such as Rouge H for the burgundy, Étoupe gray for the putty, and Opera Red for the scarlet that came at the end of the show.
It was a summery scene, set with banks of reeds and flowers as among sand dunes. Vanhee said “I was talking about friendship between women and the friendship of clothes.” Relaxed but precise it was, and as always, subtly coded with Hermès references. The tailored coats had a soft mobility about them done, she pointed out,“with fluid, saddle-shaped pattern cutting.” Even the tiny zig-zag lace-like details on cotton summery dresses turned out to be leather, stamped out in the same pattern as Hermès brogues.
She called the knitwear “modular,” meaning sectioned-out asymmetric cropped tops, bras and pencil skirts. Even then, the leather was in play; some pieces were tooled from finest vertical strips of lambskin in an infinitesimally minute Hermès-specific technique.
The point of all this—the show-off part secreted among all this quiet super-luxury—is to give the impression of a wardrobe for an easy lifestyle. That goes right down to the Greek-style sandals “in ribbon and woven calfskin” shown in every color, with nail polish to match. Even the soles, it turned out, had Hermès treads “adorned with Medor studs.” No detail is overlooked when it comes to ensuring the footprint of this house is consistently recognizable.
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This article was originally published on Vogue Runway.
