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Hermès pretty much wrote the book on casual cool, so it was only appropriate that Tuesday evening’s show at Lycée Henri IV was designed like an old library. It wasn’t so much about the literature, but rather the relaxed retro ambience, the leather sofas (a welcome change for show-goers, who have spent the past four weeks squeezed together on benches) and the pink drinks that made their way around the room. “I wanted it to be really elegant,” Christophe told i-D after the show. “As in when the outfit really fits the woman, you know? We spent a lot of time looking for the right girl for the right clothes.” The result was an attitude not dissimilar to the style-over-fashion approach, on which Lemaire drew for his eponymous collection last week, but there was a more austere air about his Hermès woman. If you can be nonchalant and severe at the same time, perhaps that’s what she was, pristine coats and long leather skirts in tow. “Mysterious,” offered Christophe. “I think the most beautiful woman is the kind that has you thinking, ‘Who is this woman?’” And it was namely the indistinctness that made the collection so captivating. “I wanted the clothes to be somehow quite classical: high-waisted, small chest, broad shoulders, very long, beautiful hair, beautiful skin,” Christophe said. “Something classical and cool. Something strict and relaxed at the same time.”
Text: Anders Christian Madsen
Photography: Mitchell Sams
