Hermès brings magic to Santa Monica before Philippe Découflé’s show in February

In response to the influx of requests, the presentation of the Hermès show ‘On the Wings of Hermès’ took place in two sessions on Friday, July 14. The first at 12 p.m. for all media and the second at 6 p.m. for private clients and celebrities, both happening at Santa Monica airport, where Frieze, the Los Angeles art fair, was held last February.

Required to be on time, the 150 guests entered The Barker Hangar, an event venue at Santa Monica airport, and discovered a 35,000-square-foot room plunged into darkness, where seven mini-shows came to life one by one.
 
Inspired by the myth of Pegasus, Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael, whose films include Mr.Nobody and Le Huitième Jour, and Belgian choreographer Michèle Anne de Mey, a former student of Maurice Béjart and head of her company Astragale, accompanied by writer Thomas Gunzig, French set designer Sylvie Olivé and the Kiss and Cry collective, created a marvellous, poetic show in seven acts.

“This project was born during the 2020 pandemic,” recounts Van Dormael. “Hermès became interested in the Cold Blood show-model we had created in 2016, and entrusted us with this 40-minute production project, with great freedom and a theme: lightness. It was a perfect match for our ideas of magic and special effects in the style of Mélies. A lightness that can be found in all our chapters, evoking inverted gravity or the pursuit of love in a sky.”
 
Already presented in Paris, Tokyo, Taipei and Hong Kong, ‘On the wings of Hermès’ will continue its worldwide tour in Shanghai and then conclude in Paris. 

Faithful to Los Angeles, where it staged its 2017 men’s show, Hermès will return in February, during Frieze art fair festival, with a show by Philippe Découflé, who choreographed the 1992 Olympic Games in Albertville, France. Last May, the two presented the Hermès Parade in Seoul, a choreographed show featuring the 400 objects of Hermès’ home collection. 
 
Next September, Hermès will return to New York Fashion Week with a show expected at Domino’s Sugar Refinery in Williamsburg, in Brooklyn.