Hermes F/W 2004.05 Paris

[Lola701]

JPGs first collection for Hermes. Very brilliant work here, but he could've done without the horsetails & harnesses...and maybe the leather corsets. There's a khaki trenchcoat dress (16:11) that chic as sh** and slick as snot.

He understood the assignment.

(BTW, this is one of the handful of shows that actually made me memorize FW04 as a memorable season...if that makes sense.)

He really understood the assignment…

Unlike Margiela’s debut that was kind of underwhelming, I feel like Gaultier wanted to give in his first show what people expected from him and he delivered in a glorious, extravagant and quite loud way…This is maybe his boldest and loudest collection at Hermès!

More than the Corsets, the alligator jackets are quite sensational and bold. The jodhpurs are extreme! And in between, some perfectly and classic coats, jackets and dresses. There’s a promise for real dressmaking and I love the touches of humor, the obvious references to the Heritage of Hermès (from the venue to the the prints) and the usual play of archetypes Gaultier likes to do.

This collection is interesting to compare to his very last show at Hermès. Both had the same theme but the last show was more subtle, less spectacular but maybe more confident in it relevance for the brand.

But back to FW2004, I can’t talk about this collection without mentioning the fabulous campaign by Avedon! Maybe one of my favorite Hermès campaign ever! A dream!

 

[eugenius]

I still need that Hermes/Margiela book! Maybe the good folks at Rizzoli will release one for Gaultier.

I agree w/ your comparison from this show to his last show. This show definitely has all the usual looks that we'd come to expect from him, but as the seasons went on, it seemed like he quickly made the collections less about him, and really fine-tuned his interpretation of the brand. More subtle and less spectacular, but nonetheless, very clean & a picture-perfect definition of chic.

How much do you want to bet that there's some wealthy woman somewhere in the world who has her whole home decorated in all sorts of Hermes ephemera, and has the corsets displayed in a glass cabinet?

 

[dior_couture1245]

^^That campaign was perfect.