Hermès Della Cavalleria Fall 2021 Ad Campaign

Review of Hermès ‘The Legend of Hermès Della Cavalleria’ Fall 2021 Ad Campaign by Creative Director David Lane and Director Charlotte Wales with models Christa Theret, Alla Kostromichova, and Grace Musase

Hermès reaches fantastical new heights with a new campaign in the form of a big-budget fantasy film trailer. Bursting with action and drama, ‘The Legend of Hermès Della Cavalleria’ features creative direction from David Lane and film direction by Charlotte Wales.

Christa Theret stars as a young heroine on an epic quest to use an ancient and all-powerful Hermès bag to save the land from the clutches of an evil sorceress queen, played by Alla Kostromichova. Balancing serious tension with playful parody, the “trailer” has all the gorgeous cinematography, epic music, and elaborate costuming that we would expect of a real one, and it oozes an impressive level of style and dramatic tension.

As the fantasy film genre is dominated by hyper-masculinity – especially The Lord of the Rings, the genre’s most archetypal work and the one this campaign parodies the most directly – it’s also great to see the campaign hold up strong women characters as both its hero and villain.

It’s a treat to see Hermès bring out the big-budget guns (or should we say swords) for what could have been a simple (and certainly more boring) bag campaign like any other.

Instead, they opt to give us something creative and fun, delivering a thrilling and humorous minute and a half that feels more visually impressive and memorable than many of their competitors’ full seasonal campaigns.

It’s not a totally new move for the brand; last summer they shared two films by different directors – one based on French new-wave cinema, and another based on classic American westerns – highlighting their Kelly bag. Hermès bags are already famed for their quality and timeless style, but the maison has found another strong way to really set itself apart through these fantastically collaborative films.

It may be a reality that Hermès bags grant their wearers limitless power, but, luckily for us, we won’t have to fight an evil witch over the last one – because if it came down to it, we would.