Sexiness made classic, sophisticated and chic
A young woman strides out in all-black leather her jacket and miniskirt molded to her curves. You admire her confident sexiness before your eye is drawn down to her colored boots in a familiar shade of burgundy: Hermès’ signature Rouge H.
It was the first look in Hermès women’s fall-winter 2022 ready-to-wear collection designed by Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski, creative director of Hermès International.
“I wanted to have a tight expression of what occurs today, beyond the equestrian,” Vanhee-Cybulski told Sarah Mower of Vogue. “It’s really about how do you translate classicism and sophistication and chic into the idea of a woman really assuming her femininity? The fact that sex is okay — it’s not something to be ashamed of.”
Especially not with Hermès at the helm: see-through shirts, leather-strip skirts, short shorts and riding boots worn with thigh-high tights indeed convey sex on a primal level, but done the Hermès way, that sexiness becomes classically elegant, understated and tasteful.
In remembrance of summer, there’s a tunic top, but in deference to fall-winter, it’s cut from black leather.
In direct contrast, an all-white segment followed the all-black, where the models looked like angels robed in pristine jackets and coats.
Then came color: a plethora of greens like sea-foam, forest, moss, teal, olive, and grungy khaki, followed by knits and outerwear in earthy browns.
Heritage items with Hermès’s equestrian DNA in them included sweaters with leather saddlebag flaps, striped pieces that reminded me of horseracing jockeys, and the riding boots, of course.
The bags are generally small, structured and desirable: crossbody Kelly bags, a Kelly II Sadler bag with off-kilter front pocket and thin handheld cases.
As the show ended with its rhapsody of greens and browns, I could imagine that even if we’re here in the tropics, in temperate countries it’s a whole different story: amid the cold and darkness of winter a woman could wear these earthy pieces from Hermès and be reminded of the green promise of spring.
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Hermès’ flagship store in the Philippines is located at Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center, Makati City, tel. 7757-8910, open Monday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
