The Minds Behind Hermes' Fall/Winter 2021 Presentation On Dance
Reinventing how fashion's being viewed one step at at time.
Hermes brought in choreographers Madeline Hollander and Gu Jiani to help stage its ambitious show: a triptych of performances that took place simultaneously across New York, Paris and Shanghai.
From Hollander, movements inspired by New Yorkers’ gestures on the streets and from Gu, a playful cross-cultural dance that incorporated boxes (orange, naturally).
These dynamic performances helped illustrate creative director Nadege Vanhee-Cybulski’s concept of strong, feminine sensuality in motion – ideas that came through in the sporty, almost-Amazonian silhouettes of the collection.
Ahead, the three women give the lowdown on
“I was interested in what these two choreographers could bring me, not the other way around. We responded to Madeline’s work on walking styles with wrapped, pleated and frilled dresses and skirts in georgette that allow movement. When Jiani decided to use the box – a universal object – as a theme, it was both startling and intuitive since the box is fundamental to Hermes. It thus seemed appropriate to include them in the staging since they symbolise our identity.
The idea was female sensuality completely reappropriated. Women’s sensuality was forever described, filmed, photographed and painted by men. The choreographers we approached were women. Would we have created this new vocabulary – these socially distanced collaborations – if things had been calmer, more normal? Probably not. We would have undoubtedly produced a more traditional show.”
“I find inspiration in the movements of everyday life. The way people walk on the street or cross an intersection; I bring patient study and a quasi-scientific approach to this type of thing. For me, this project was also the opportunity to work with professional dancers who are perpetual purveyors of grace through motion. Clothing plays an interesting role here because when a model wears something, it doesn’t move the same way as when a dancer wears it. Dancers bring something else to the table, perhaps something more ample.
My segment is a commentary on the movement of New York pedestrians rather than on fashion. I love watching people walk the streets of Manhattan in the morning – their movements are very rhythmic and sometimes synchronised. They say that New Yorkers walk 3.2mph (5.1kmh) on average and for me that speed is an inextinguishable source of inspiration. Can one dance a collection or situation as complex as the one in which we currently find ourselves in? And isn’t this performance a kind of collective self-portrait?”
“After the immobility that has hemmed us all in for so long, my initial reaction was to resist the lazy idea of creating choreography using outfits by Nadege. The movement interprets the clothing, not the other way around. This approach is in fact very different from my usual way of working – the outfit is almost never the starting point of a new creation.
It was crucial for me to grasp that Nadege wanted choreography steeped in Chinese tradition – in a certain culture of movement – and that she desired a true collaboration. The first video that I believe struck her and her teams was choreography in which I played very athletically and energetically with boxes. In China, boxes are ubiquitous. It is such a commonplace object that everyone can relate to. In Paris, boxes symbolise gifts, presents, surprises. Here again, it was interesting to see how each of us managed to surprise the other by just being ourselves.”
Interviews have been edited for length and clarity.
This article first appeared in the July 2021 Dance edition of FEMALE