For this Fall/Winter 2021 season, the Hermès presentation video was conceived as a live and vibrant show in three acts, mixing the traditional live parade with the opening and closing of contemporary dance performances – everything to symbolize the “movement” that was the keyword chosen by Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski for the season.
This triptych spanning from the Park Avenue Armory in New York to La Garde Républicaine in Paris to finally, Maison Hermès in Shanghai was a composition that not only satiated our need to travel but that also offered a cultural and creative exchange despite the distance.
The first act in New York was met with dancing, choreography by the American Madeline Hollander, who explored the evolution of movement and body language in her work. In monochrome brown looks, dancers showed us a preview of what was to come next. “How clothing inspires a way of being, of dancing, of moving. How our body is commanded in its gestures by the garment, as if bewitched… It becomes the choreographer”, said Madeline Hollander.
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The second act in Paris, filmed at the Garde Républicaine without an audience, showed the full Fall/Winter 2021 collection. Both functional and refined, the silhouettes fit perfectly into our daily lives. There were fabulous pops of color filling the white canvas, from red coats, to dresses revealing stripes of bright red, yellow and blue tones, sweater dresses and knits topped off with the House’s moniker scarves. Of course, there were the staple leather outfits revealing Hermès’ knack for fine craftsmanship.
The third and final act was a performance filmed in Shanghai by the Chinese choreographer Gu Jiani, who gave us a performance bursting with strength and energy among orange painted boxes. In line with the thinking of her American colleague Madeline Hollander, Gu Jiani reflected on the role of clothing in movement in a context where it is the very inspiration for choreography and no longer a tool. “It’s the movement that must interpret the garment, not the garment that serves the movement. This is very different from the way I usually work, the costume is almost never the starting point of a new creation“, explained the Chinese choreographer.
