Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski, the sensuality of the house Hermès

Six years after his surprise appointment at the head of the Hermès collections, the very sharp Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski was able to infuse a zest of sensuality in the famous house.On the eve of Fashion Week, meeting with a designer who thwarts the clichés.

She does not post photos of her breakfast, does not make "stories" of her vacation, does not show herself working.She does not give fifty interviews after each parade.She doesn't leap you into her arms, exclaiming "My darling!"»».When it is addressed to you, she weighs each of her words, walks quietly along her sentence, comes back if necessary, reformulates everything without rushing.This discreet weighting that strikes at first glance is prolonged in a tapping look and a slightly out of time (if it means that something), which has aroused more than a bitter comment: some journalists have boldly talked aboutHer pre -raphaélite beauty, others invoked Titian's portraits, simply because she has a pale complexion that goes with her hair blonde.Still others have drawn a parallel with Flemish painting, a little easy comparison guided by its birth (in 1978) near Lille, in Romanesque Flanders, of a father from the north and (less relevant) of a mother who cameof Constantine, in Algeria.Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski does her best to slalom between the clichés when she speaks and she would appreciate enough that in return we do not reduce her to a cliché-in this case, that of the rigorous, almost austere stylist, who s'water to make fashion a more cerebral art than necessary.

"She is a little fed up with being cataloged like the creator who goes to Fiac," summarizes someone, at Hermès.So no, her appearance of seriousness is undoubtedly not a trompe-l'oeil aimed at hiding the dumping bunter that it would actually be.But her personality is not just about what she publicly reveals.She smiles at caricature, while claiming a part of lightness, humor and casualness confirmed by those who know her well, in private.When she was appointed artistic director of Hermès women's collections, in 2014, the fashion world was somewhat surprised by this choice.Nadège who?Those who had preceded her (Martin Margiela, Jean Paul Gaultier and Christophe Lemaire, in order of appearance) were already widely known, upon arrival.It was necessary to have frequented the corridors of pointed houses to know who we were talking about: after having left a graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Antwerp and the French Fashion Institute, Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski had successivelyWorked for the Belgian leatherist Delvaux, Maison Martin Margiela, Celine (near Phoebe Philo), and finally for The Row, the radical-elelitist brand of the Olsen sisters, of which she had led the studio, in New York, for three years.That claws presenting a form of cousinage with Hermès, whether it holds their leather expertise, their minimalist chic or their ultra-luxe positioning.On reflection, her formidably coherent career was the ideal springboard for landing at Hermès - evidence reinforced by the fact that she has collaborated directly with Martin Margiela, of course.

« J'avais envie de casser les préjugés autour de la “femme Hermès“»»

The first time we spent time with her, she had two collections for Hermès to her credit, and it was in her office, in the workshops of the house, in Pantin, that we had spoken style.Five years later, here we are assessing the impact of a fashionable bat virus, connected by a random internet network.Dressed in an orange sweater, the designer answers us from her house, interrupted ten seconds by another occupant of the premises (probably her daughter or her husband, a gallery owner of British origin), as has already happened to any good teleworkerCours of recent months."When I arrived at Hermès, my main objective was to give all its legitimacy to ready-to-wear," she says.There was a certain audacity to work the concept of season in a house which is part of timelessness.It is true that time Hermès is a long time.Let us recall the date of creation of the bags which are always the subject of endless waiting lists: 1984 for the "Birkin", 1969 for the "Constance", 1935 for the "Kelly"."This relationship to time does not mean that we are locked up and mummified, as if everything was suspended.The house is alive, agile;It can respond to new desires and embrace the dazzling dazzling, while advocating sustainability, ”she continues.The fact is that the "clothing and accessories" division (also including men's fashion controlled by Véronique Nichanian and the accessories signed Pierre Hardy), in other words the segment of seasonal creations, still represents a little more than 20 % of the figure ofThe house (in second position behind the leather goods, which turns around 50 %).At the end of 2019, just before the covid, it even displayed stunning growth of 17 %.

"Besides," she said, "I wanted to break prejudices around the" Hermès woman ", imagined as a distant creature, a little inaccessible.For me, it was through sensuality.The sensuality of a cut, a look, a rolled sleeve, a slit cut in a dress ... and the sensuality of the materials.The relationship to touch is very special in Hermès, there is sensoriality in all leather, wood, enamel objects ... I wanted us to find this dimension in the clothes.Thus, the first parade started with the battleship coats and the stylized horse riding pants that were expected, but also appeared with silky, moving dresses: a controlled injection of voluptuousness in a Protestant house which, in a hundred and eightyyears of existence, has never fallen once in vulgarity."Sensuality, eroticism ... it can be scary.It's interesting to approach this question through the prism of Hermès.And with a feminine look.»»

At Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski, the lines are flexible and the materials caress the body.The silhouette is nonetheless clear, direct, devoid of any free ornament. La créatrice parle de « tenues décomplexifiées»» et d'une mode « sans simulacre»» qui fait dialoguer la fonction et la beauté. Son équipe doit être un peu lasse, présume-t-elle, de l'entendre parler de son obsession de créer des « néoclassiques»».Understanding pieces that can slide towards the future without appearing dated.

When asked if she is part of a filiation with couturiers of previous generations, she humbly answers: "I do not consider myself the heiress of anyone, it would be terribly arrogant on my part.On the other hand, I can tell you about my memories of the years 1980-1990: the shattering arrival of the Japanese creators, Jil Sander, Helmut Lang, of Margiela… I was completely embarked by these people.I liked their minimalist approach to clothing, but it was going far beyond.There was a cultural dimension in their proposal, something alternative, utopian, ultra-contaminating, without the slightest melancholy.It was really the fashion for an era.»» Et celle des années 2020, à quoi la reconnaît-on ? [ Soupir.] "At the mask, right?".It is not an easy task to make fashion in the 21st century.Especially at the moment.But a crisis is an opportunity to progress.This breaking period makes me want to widen my horizons, to celebrate cultural mixing ... to go further in my reflection on the upcycling, the reparability, the sustainability - of the notions which have always been present in Hermès, and thatWe must constantly advance, in a virtuous approach.To rethink my way of working, by wondering about potentially obsolete automatisms.At the risk of appearing a little masochistic, I find the era stimulating, since everything is called into question: our way of living, eating, interacting, dressing, and even breathing ... We have to take itas an asset to move forward.»»

At the beginning of March, a few weeks after our conversation, she will present her fall-winter 2021/2022 collection during a fashion week which no one knows under what conditions it will take place.To hear it, a parade would be almost a romantic meeting."It takes time to discover someone, in a new relationship.It's the same thing in mode: you have to give people time to receive what you offer, to identify the contours.Today, I have the feeling that my fashion is well understood.But it is a long -term journey, there will always be other people to conquer, other shores to dock.»» Six ans après son arrivée, Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski s'emploie à ne pas se répéter, évitant pour cela de s'enfermer dans une vision figée, façonnée par les poncifs (on y revient), de ce que doit être une « femme Hermès»». Il faut simplement que celle-ci affiche « un style pérenne et une certaine force»», juge-t-elle.Which brings us back to our initial point. « Je ne veux pas me comparer à qui que ce soit, mais est-ce que “sérieux“ n'est pas un qualificatif que l'on a aussi appliqué à Jil Sander, Phoebe Philo, voire Madeleine Vionnet ?»» Et de s'interroger sur le fait que, aujourd'hui encore, la caricature de l'austérité serait une manière de cataloguer des femmes dont la mode exprimerait une forme de puissance assumée…

From March 5, at 17 rue de Sèvres, Paris-6e, we can now (re) discover the Hermès store, renovated and enlarged.