Leather That’s Light Years Ahead
Review of Hermès Spring 2027 Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
THE IMPRESSION TAKE
Nadège Vanhée’s Spring 2027 collection for Hermès challenged leather’s associations with weight and durability, using laser-cutting, aeration and fabric splicing to create a lighter, more adaptable proposition for summer. Feather-light pencil skirts, perforated suede coats and silk-panelled pieces demonstrated how Vanhée continues to evolve the house within a deliberately tight framework, shifting perceptions of its most familiar material through practicality, sensuality and technical precision.
Creative Director: Nadège Vanhée
House: Hermès
Collection: Spring/Summer 2027
Presented: Paris Fashion Week
Reviewed by: Angela Baidoo
The Impression Review Score by Kenneth Richard: 8.6
View the Full Collection
At Hermès, Nadège Vanhée continues to prove her creative evolution doesn’t require a reinvention of the wheel. Working within the framework of a house where leather remains the foundation, for Spring 2027 the artistic director challenged its associations with weight and durability to propose something lighter.
Through laser-cutting, aeration, splicing and surface manipulation, leather became an unlikely answer to the question of how we’ll dress for summer next season.
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
In contrast to the characteristics we typically associate with leather – sturdy, durable, versatile – Nadège Vanhée has created an almost transcendent way to work with the material that surpasses expectations.
From her laser-cutting and fabric splicing to rib-effects, quilting and creative panelling, it begins and ends with the base. And how the artistic director steers her atelier next is always, all to play for, as the French house seems immune to the broad-stroke criticism being lobbied at its peers when it comes to commerciality Vs creativity. Her task is one of maintaining the course of a steady ship, by consistently shifting the perception of what the malleable material can do, albeit within a tight framework.
Approaching this collection with military precision, the utilitarian felt personal. As the designer used colour and surface texture to bring her ideas around adaptable clothing for the Hermès woman – to easily move throughout her day – to life.
Aerated clothing has been a key theme trending since the men’s shows in June. The need for lighter layers that allow air to move around the body or feature built-in cooling details are becoming a necessity as temperatures rise to extreme levels during the summer months. And while the favoured fabrics have been organza, chiffon, mesh or technical nylon for Hermès there came a convincing argument that leather could also exude lightness.
Shaved down to become feather-light, leather pencil skirts were opened up with fringed hems, patched with printed silk, sheer knit dresses were overlaid with vertical leather panelling, and fluid suede coats were punched with a morse-code style pattern. The technical was also made tangible with a generous application of knitted mesh across vests, skirts, and mini dresses in earthy browns and sunshine yellows.
Overlooked as it is Vanhée’s collections, especially those for summer, carry a certain level of understated sex-appeal. For spring 2027 that meant cut-outs opened up the body, bandeau tops were split horizontally, and utility vests and dresses were cut-into at the waist. Zips were also a fun addition that created a two-for-one detail for skirts and once undone revealed a scarf print hidden within the sleeve of a bomber jacket. Of course, the classic Hermès scarf is always casually woven into the story and here it was styled much in the same way as a woman might wear it on holiday, repurposed and tied around the body as a makeshift bra. A styling trick that the multi-generational Hermès customer is in no doubt already privy to.
THE WRAP UP
At Hermès Vanhée continues to ensure consistency never becomes lost in the search for the next big idea. By making leather lighter, adaptable and unexpectedly sensual, she once again shifted perceptions of what the house’s most familiar material can do. And when the Hermès woman can unzip a bomber to reveal silk, unravel a skirt, or simply tie a scarf around her body and go, the designer has proven that practicality and creativity can become one and the same.
