A Risk-Taker’s Allure. Hermès AW26

In the past few seasons, it has been fascinating to see where Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski takes her Hermès woman. Let’s say it plainly: this woman is a bourgeois. Yet, as last season proved, she is not afraid to let her precious leathers wear down on a horse ride in Camargue, and she knows that a truly great Birkin is one seasoned by time and life.

For autumn–winter 2026, the designer takes that same woman to a darker, sexier place – somewhere slightly outside her comfort zone, yet where she feels as confident as ever. With modernist ease and an Art Deco–esque flair, a pair of leather coats were designed with zippers spiraling around the torso and hips, while horse-riding attire resembled sensual, body-fitting catsuits. Fur caps lent the looks an aristocratic air – but this is the kind of aristocrat unafraid of doing something unbecoming, even wonderfully inappropriate.

With Vanhee-Cybulski set to launch Hermès’s haute couture next year, her risk-taking approach to the ready-to-wear line – already crafted from some of the finest materials in the world – only heightens the excitement for what the house might have in store in its new era.