Hermès shows an airy Spring 2027 collection built around air

Nadège Vanhée opened Hermès Spring 2027 in Paris with a collection built around a single idea: air. The artistic director of women's ready-to-wear said her past year of travel, through Los Angeles, Asia and a brutally hot European summer, pushed her toward clothing that lets the body breathe.

She puts the idea plainly. Air can be perceptible but also imperceptible, she said, and she wanted to convert that into a very pragmatic silhouette. The result is a lineup where the maison's famous leather is worked down to thin strips, and heavy materials are rethought for heat.

The starting point was the parka, a functional piece that does not exactly scream Hermès but still fed her imagination. Vanhée transformed it into airy dresses and skirts with sheer panels, some fitted with small zips so the wearer can shorten the hem or let it drop longer.

The palette ran through sunflower yellow, chocolate and signature Hermès orange. Denim, calfskin and silk were the working materials, each pushed lighter than expected. The house was founded in 1837 as a harness-maker, never chased fashion, and now sets the ceiling for what leather goods can cost.

The details that keep the air moving

Vanhée drew a second idea from ceiling fans. Their long, rectangular blades reappeared as swooshing pleats on a black leather blazer, on a chocolate suede skirt backed with yellow silk, and on an orange dress cinched with a double-buckle belt.

Sporty dresses were built from thin strips of leather applied to silk mesh, light enough to move with the body. Perforated suede jackets let air through directly, and open-knit dresses resembling fishing nets were worn over statement bra tops and underwear.

Wide-leg trousers and jackets in ultra-lightweight denim and printed silk rounded out the tailoring, light and breezy by design. Nothing in the collection was left heavy, and leather was reworked from a material of structure into a material of ventilation.

Accessories matched the brief. Flat leather boots carried delicate stitching at the sides, while sandals were capri-style, strappy and barely there. Bags came as small buckets, some with fishnet details, plus cross-body shapes and slim leather clutches.

Many models stacked thick leather bracelets on their wrists. They looked chic against the sheer garments but warm given the temperature in the room, and that heat became the one detail the show could not quite escape.

A show that ran hot

The runway was vast and square, and the room was sweltering. Even before the first model stepped out, celebrities including Sofia Vergara were fanning themselves with the show notes. The audience was cooling itself down for a collection designed around exactly that problem.

Vanhée has been traveling the world for the past year, and she returned with a response to the changing climate rather than a retreat from it. A house famous for leather has asked what leather can do when the heat rises, and answered with strips, mesh and perforation.

We have tracked the best Hermès handbags from Birkin to Kelly in our buying guide, and named its bags among the most enduring designer pieces of all time. Those guides start from the leather; this collection shows the same material bending to weather.

When we ranked the most popular luxury brands online, Hermès finished in the top five, built from Google Trends search interest plus brand value and social conversation data. Dior led, followed by Gucci and Chanel, with Hermès and Louis Vuitton completing the five.

The verdict on the day was that the ventilation delivered on the theme but the venue did not. Air flowed freely through the perforated suede and open knits, and the closing line asked Hermès to turn up the air conditioning next time.

What has not been said is how much of this collection will reach stores as shown, or whether the perforated suede and fishnet dresses will be produced in volume. That detail is not in the show coverage, and no release dates were given.