After the disappointing years of Jean Paul Gaultier at the french luxury house, Hermes, Christophe Lemaire, the calm and silent Frenchie made it again on top. The succesful collections which were very into famous Hermes silk printed scarves and leather work, made Lemaire a person-to-know in Paris. He also worked for names like Maison Martin Margiela, which tells us why his clothes usually blend between femininity and androginity! After few years of working in the industry, Christophe opened his eponymous label called with his name, which is ultra-alluring and full of elegant seduction. As his brand grows (and gets famous in Europe), there is no wonder why the designer left Hermes, as announced yesterday. Who will take his place? Nobody knows. But let’s preview again all of Lemaire’s collection for Hermes since the year of his start, 2011.

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First collection. Full of furs, beautiful prints made on silk… The designer’s access to the Hermès ateliers gave his work here a sophisticated polish that was overwhelming in its creamy, styled-to-the-ultra-max-ness. Maybe that’s why the sporting activities that were referenced were falconry and archery, rather more elite and arcane than the equestrian pursuits that are more fundamental to the history of Hermès.

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Minimalim strikes Paris in 2012! If the luxury globe-trotter doesn’t fancy being weighed down with stuff, then Lemaire is her minimalist of choice. The designer’s own less-is-more orientalist aesthetic has found a home at Hermès, where even the least is more lush than the most of almost anyone else. In that, Lemaire’s work harks back more to the tenure of Martin Margiela than that of his immediate predecessor, Jean Paul Gaultier.

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Androgynous elegance for a luxurious nomad. Travel is movement. With his show today, Christophe Lemaire adopted the stance that no movement is more modern than the nomad’s. He opened with the gaucho—knit serape, baggy leather pants tucked into boots—and closed with pieces that were printed with folkloric patterns from the Russian steppes.

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The fluid scarves were used as trousers, dresses, tops. The designer’s love of the East was expressed in mosaic prints created by Hermès’ unparalleled artisans in silk; Lemaire turned their tropical scarf prints into T-shirts and fluid shorts. But the most spectacular souvenirs that he passed on to his woman on the move were shorts in crocodile chiffre, shaded jade or cobalt.

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Hitchcockian seduction which is sexy, Parisienne and very elegant. One of the strongest collections that made Lemaire in the spotlight! “At last, pure French chic,” enthused French Vanity Fair’s Virginie Mouzat as she exited the Hermès show tonight. It was easy to see why a purely chic Frenchwoman such as she would feel that way after a week in which the waters of Parisian fashion had been thoroughly muddied by ugh! foreigners. Cue huge sigh of relief: The house of Hermès, paragon of all French things bright and beautiful in the eyes of the world, remains in the hands of a countryman, the subtle, earnest Christophe Lemaire.

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Perfect outfits for a island / beach escape. Lemaire’s big influence was Henri Rousseau, the Frenchman who painted jungles without ever having seen them. The pendulous flora of Rousseau’s work were duplicated in the print that opened the show, with boots to match. The artist’s dark jungle green colored tops, shifts, crocodile culottes, and a wrapped leather coat. It was, in fact, color that marched this collection on: mulberry, teal, sky blue, sunset orange—intense shades that were new to Lemaire’s formerly neutral world. He applied them to long fluid shapes, ideal for a woman who values anonymity above all else. The mulberry jumpsuit paired with flip-flops? No chance anyone on the run will attract attention in that.

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Lemaire said he’d been musing on all the characters a woman could be. But it wasn’t really those ethnic personae who carried the show. His notions of a strong, graceful, urban style were more persuasive. He tipped his cap to trends—lush knitwear, oversize coats—but the slightly exaggerated proportions of his jackets and pants once again seemed more of a reference to Martin Margiela’s tenure at Hermès, and were just as elegantly slouchy, especially in an ivory tux with an extravagant shawl collar, or a coat-dress, also in ivory, that was closed with a single button.