Papa’s got a brand new bag.
The Hermès fall men’s collection had cashmere coats, nubuck pants and insanely luxurious sheepskin sweaters with sheared motifs. But it was the bags — bullskin totes and oversized fanny packs and flannel weekend bags — that nearly stole the show.
Part of the thrill of attending an Hermès show consists in reading the notes handed out to guests, which describe in luscious detail the top-of-the-range materials that go into each item.
Look number 17, for instance, featured a black bomber jacket with a band of dark blue crocodile leather running across the chest, accessorized with an “Etrivière cabas bag in lead Cristobal bullskin, black Hunter cowskin and sheepskin.”
Look 12 paired a burgundy nubuck lambskin jacket with a silk-and-cashmere patchwork sweater, black trousers and an “Haut à Courroies bag in gray felted wool and wine-red Togo calfskin.”
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The notes were especially useful this season, since men’s designer Véronique Nichanian put the focus on textures that begged to be touched (and deciphered). A case in point: an inky blue sheepskin sweater etched with cable patterns that was paired with pilot blue calfskin pants.
She used sheepskin in small doses — for instance, a detachable white collar on a navy corduroy trenchcoat, or a horizontal stripe on a black leather shirt. Maxi-ribbed cashmere sweaters and velvet suits in dusty shades of verdigris or burgundy rounded out the sensorial map.
The lineup proved that extreme opulence doesn’t need to be fusty. One look at those giant fanny packs made it clear that Hermès is no longer simply your father’s brand.