SCREEN SIREN
Reel life mirrors real life in HermèsHermès’ s’ “Avec Elle” exhibition in Tokyo. By Pakkee Tan
It is a warm summer afternoon and I have just arrived in the Land of the Rising Sun for an extraordinary event. I’m in town to celebrate Hermès’ fall/winter 2018 Women’s Universe launch—one of two special annual immersive experiences (the other being its Men’s Universe) designed to encapsulate the Maison’s oeuvre of the season.
Since launching in 2012, notable iterations of the Hermès Women’s Universe have taken place in cities of cultural note, among them 2014’s All About Women in New York (where a carnival was held on Wall Street to celebrate the lighthearted side of the Hermès woman, complete with its own larger-than-life origami horse on display across from the iconic George Washington statue), and 2016’s View from Her in Beijing (where the House worked with star choreographer Lucinda Childs for a dance-inspired, one-night-only performance to showcase its artisans). This year’s theme, “Avec Elle,” which loosely translates to “with her”, promises to reveal the titular woman’s mysterious and alluring personality through a “movie-shoot” experience of epic proportions. It also happens to be the first time that the House will be throwing open its doors to the public to experience its Women’s Universe through the exhibition.
For a brand as culturally and socially significant as Hermès, these wonderfully rich theatrical productions are a way of both bringing its ethos and craftsmanship to the attention of a new audience, while, at the same time, creating a unique experiential affair to delight its existing clientele. At its head is Bali Barrett, the Artistic
Director of the Hermès Women’s Universe, who works hand in hand with Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski, the Artistic Director of women’s ready-to-wear, to put forth a singular vision of the Her mès woman to the world at large. But where Vanhee-Cybulski creates the stylistic pieces for the Hermès woman’s wardrobe (building blocks, if you will), Barrett is the architect who breathes life, and places these building blocks, into situational context for the aforementioned woman. Hermès’
Women’s Universe serves to inspire and enchant its audience, but also to showcase the
House’s latest wares. It is a seasonal exercise in lifestyle creation for its customer, showing them how to enrich their lives and to live it just so—a blueprint to the inimitably chic Hermès life, where everything that is seen can be bought in stores just a few weeks later. Neither of them has an easy task, but that they both manage to build this fantastical world season after season speaks of their astute understanding of the push and pull of commercialism and creativity.
Following a quick trip to the Renzo Piano-designed Hermès store in Ginza, where we take in the current exhibition by Paris-based artist Mircea Cantor on display at Ginza Maison Hermès Le Forum— the brand’s dedicated art space within its store—we are led to the night’s f ashionable venue: The National Ar t Center, Tokyo, in Roppongi. Marvelling at the undulating sparkling glass exterior conceptualised by renowned Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, I note that the stage has been set (quite literally) for the “Avec Elle” exhibition, with cinematic references at every turn. Dreamed up by Barrett in collaboration with French filmmaker and exhibition curator Laure Flammarion,“Avec Elle” follows the journey of a Japanese writer who, mesmerised by the elusive female in the exhibition’s title, traces her journey across countries and locations in a bid to get to know her. The catch? This is all unfolding in a film studio—the story is being told through vignettes being acted out, complete with a film crew and actors.
Guests themselves will also play multiple parts throughout the acts: Observer, participant, filmmaker, actor. This is also the most compelling part of the exhibition. Rich in meta meaning, it draws you into its world, before returning you to reality with a nudge towards the next room; placing you in the filmmaker’s seat when you raise your phone one moment, then turning you into an extra on set for a scene in the next.
But the ingenuity of the exhibition lies not only in its ability to make its audience think. Hermès prides itself on the unparalleled discretion and impeccable quality of its creations, whether it’s leather bags or readyto-wear, and this is displayed to its full advantage in the exhibition.The ease and insouciance of Vanhee-Cybulski’s fall/winter 2018 collection, with its darkly romantic palette of viridian, claret and noir, wrap themselves luxuriously on the actors and models, and can be admired up-close on wardrobe racks in the thematically demarcated backstage areas of the exhibition, where the brand’s iconic Kelly and Constance bags, rolls of silk scarves, and the hero items of the season, among other accessories, are adroitly displayed on metal trolleys in keeping with the evening’s theme. Despite the theatrical setting, one gets the sense that these are clothes and accessories to live and breathe in, and the ravishing scenes that audiences encounter at “Avec Elle” serve to bring home this point.
Stepping out into the sticky Tokyo night, the words of celebrated filmmaker Stanley Kubrick resonate with me as I reflect on the evening’s goings-on.“The screen is a magic medium. It has such power that it can retain interest as it conveys emotions and moods that no other art form can hope to tackle.” Magic is definitely in the air tonight. Tapping into the irresistible magnetism of cinema, Hermès has brought an entire microcosm to life and deftly weaved its seasonal narrative into the grain of its audience’s emotional memory. But perhaps, that’s what Hermès hopes to achieve—to move you and dress your dreams for a very stylish future. ■