Nadège Vanhée has spent more than a decade shaping Hermès through the materials that have always defined the house: leather, silk, and the equestrian codes inherited from its beginnings as a saddlery in 1837. However, Hermès Spring/Summer 2027 collection moves those signatures somewhere unexpectedly light. Presented during Paris Fashion Week, the collection is Vanhée’s most pronounced departure from the visual and physical weight traditionally associated with Hermès, arriving at an important turning point for both the designer and the house.
In January 2027, Hermès will present its first-ever haute couture collection, also designed by Vanhée, taking the house into a category it has never formally occupied in its 189-year history. Against that backdrop, the SS27 ready-to-wear collection feels almost like a study in preparation. Built around the idea of air, it takes some of Hermès’ most recognizable materials and strips them of their expected heaviness, allowing leather and silk to move, breathe, reveal skin, and catch light in unfamiliar ways.
Hermès Spring/Summer 2027 Starts With Air
The idea began with Vanhée’s own experience of heat. Over the past year, the designer traveled through Los Angeles, Asia, and Europe, including a European summer that experienced some of its highest temperatures on record. The sensation stayed with her, eventually becoming the starting point for the collection.
“Air can be perceptible, but also imperceptible, and I wanted to convert that idea into a very pragmatic silhouette,” Vanhée said before the show.
That distinction between concept and practicality is central to Hermès Spring/Summer 2027. Vanhée does not abandon the wearability that has consistently defined her work for the house simply to pursue an abstract idea. Instead, she asks what happens when the practical wardrobe is designed around heat, movement, ventilation, and the need for less.
Even the conditions surrounding the show seemed to reinforce the point. In the venue’s June heat, Sofia Vergara and other guests in the celebrity-heavy front row were seen using their show notes as fans. By the time the collection emerged, the clothes offered their own response to the weather.
The Parka Sets the Collection in Motion
Vanhée found her first answer in the parka. It is an unlikely starting point for a house so closely associated with refined leather goods and equestrian craftsmanship, but its functionality gave the collection a clear structural language. Protection from the elements, ease of movement, and adaptability became recurring ideas throughout the lineup.
Those principles appeared in sheer panels and adjustable zips that allowed hemlines to shift between shorter and longer proportions. The opening looks introduced a palette of sunflower yellow, chocolate, and Hermès orange, while transparent sections allowed light to pass through leather and silk. Rather than presenting those materials as dense or protective, Vanhée made them appear almost breathable.
The ceiling fan provided another unexpected reference. Its long rectangular blades, designed to turn air into visible movement, translated into swooping pleats on a black leather blazer, a chocolate suede skirt lined in yellow silk, and an orange dress secured with a double-buckle belt.
Perforated suede jackets pushed the ventilation idea further, while open-knit dresses recalled fishing nets. Worn over statement bra tops and underwear, they also introduced a degree of visible lingerie styling that feels relatively unfamiliar within the Hermès vocabulary.
Leather, Silk and Denim Lose Their Weight
The most compelling material experiments in the Hermès Spring/Summer 2027 collection come from the way Vanhée manipulates familiar house signatures rather than abandoning them altogether. Thin strips of leather applied to silk mesh produced pieces that sat somewhere between armor and negligee, combining protection with transparency and delicacy.
Elsewhere, ultra-lightweight denim and printed silk appeared in wide-leg trousers and matching jackets. These pieces provide some of the collection’s most immediately wearable looks, maintaining the precision expected of Hermès while responding directly to the season’s emphasis on lightness.
Denim is particularly notable here. For a house whose identity is so deeply connected to leather and silk, its presence feels like a deliberate provocation. Yet it does not read as an attempt to make Hermès more casual for the sake of it. Instead, the fabric becomes another way for Vanhée to explore how the house’s material intelligence can function beyond its traditional boundaries.
The accessories follow the same logic. Flat leather boots feature delicate stitching along the sides, while sandals arrive in minimal, strappy capri-style constructions. Bags take on smaller, more mobile forms, including bucket silhouettes with fishnet detailing, slim leather clutches, and cross-body styles designed around movement rather than rigid structure.
Thick stacks of leather bracelets provide a notable return to Hermès’ heavier material language. Against the transparency, open knits, and fluid silhouettes surrounding them, their weight feels deliberate rather than excessive.
A Lighter Hermès Ahead of Couture
The significance of Hermès’ Spring/Summer 2027 extends beyond the ready-to-wear collection itself. With Vanhée preparing Hermès’ first haute couture presentation for January 2027, this season offers an intriguing indication of where her approach to the house is heading.
Couture will place an even greater emphasis on craftsmanship, construction, and the manipulation of materials. SS27 demonstrates that Vanhée is already interested in what happens when those materials are pushed to their most delicate limits.
Making leather appear light is, in itself, a technical exercise. Making it look effortless is something else entirely. That is ultimately what gives the collection its relevance now. Vanhée has not moved Hermès away from leather, silk, or its codes of craftsmanship; she has changed the way they behave.
Hermès’ Spring/Summer 2027 collection is less about abandoning the house’s established language than loosening it. For a brand built on material weight and permanence, Vanhée has found a compelling new expression in air.
Check out more images from the Hermès Spring/Summer 2027 collection…
