In the rarefied air of Bel Air, where a temporary structure took a month to rise, Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski presented a new chapter for Hermès that gently repositions a house long defined by saddlery and silk. The women's fall 2026 collection's second act - part of a traveling format that began in New York and continued in Shanghai - centered on an unlikely protagonist: the dress. For a brand whose archives are steeped in equestrian craftsmanship (Hermès began as a harness workshop in 1837), the dress has rarely taken center stage. Yet here, it did, draped and constructed from the house's iconic Carré scarf, transformed into fluid, body-conscious silhouettes that balanced movement and structure. The collection leaned into ballet - a nod to grace and the expertise of gesture - with supple leather parkas, wrap-effect dresses, and sculptural bustiers inspired by pointe shoes. Duchesse satin, an unexpected choice for Hermès, emerged as a defining fabric, while leather remained the quiet anchor. The palette - butter yellow, rich red, deep black - echoed California's sun-soaked optimism and its after-dark skyline. Vanhee-Cybulski described the city as a place where one creates a new identity, a sentiment that resonates with the lingerie world's own history of reinvention: from the corset's liberation into the bra to the slip dress's journey from undergarment to eveningwear. In L.A., the designer translated reality into dream - a fitting formula for a house that has long blurred the line between utility and fantasy.
Originally reported by WWD