How Hermès strikes an artful truce between ergonomic design and timeless beauty

An object is designed and brought into the world to do two things. First, provide its wearer with the sheer satisfaction of looking at it, i.e. the transcendent joy experienced when an object is a reminder or a totem of more effervescent times. And the second, to serve its purpose—its basic need for existence, whatever that may be, big or small. 

In the hallowed halls of Hermès’ fashion accessories métier—where its fashion jewellery, hats, and belts are made, both these functions are met, and a third is discovered. The honouring of the House’s codes and its long-lasting legacy in the art of object-making, according to the creative director of the pieces, Clémande Burgevin Blachman. 

Burgevin Blachman’s rise to the chair in 2022 is one that is riddled with unlikely possibilities. She’s quick to say so herself. She did not study fashion, but literature. She left a career in publishing to follow her instinct into fashion. After a stint as the creative director of BETC, an advertising agency, where she reimagined the visual identity of the institutional and iconic Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Burgevin Blachman met Raf Simons and began working with him at Calvin Klein as the head of design for the home division. Here, she brought to life her early instruction in the world of objects learned close at home from her antique dealer and art loving parents. Followed by working with Pieter Mulier for his first two collections at Alaïa.

“It is about coming with your own foundations of culture and taste, and blending it with the purpose of the House,” she says from her room in the Paris atelier where 16 métiers of the House work in synchronicity across collections. “I’ve always been fond of objects and decorative arts, and Hermès is a true House for the object itself.” An exciting object/jewellery from the new Spring/Summer 2024 collection inspired by the spirit of the Faubourg—Hermès’ iconic and oldest building in Paris that celebrates its centenary this year—is the whimsical bracelet in printed enamel and gold metal with the ‘Funny Ice Cream’ print that was originally seen on a silk Carré. 

“At Hermès, there has always been a sense of poetry and fun. If you think about the first fashion accessories that were created at Hermès, it was a cuff—The Collier de Chien, which was part of a famous collection that was inspired by a dog collar.” She explains of the simple ingenuity of designing a cuff from a dog collar—the brilliance, whimsy, as well as subversive nature of that.

The Faubourg bracelet also features the horse motif, a nerve centre of the brand that started as a harness workshop back in 1837. “It may be expected, but I didn’t realise prior to my arrival at Hermès how much access there is or the richness of the environment around the horse as an animal. For instance, the equipment, the figure of the horse, the role it was playing in the economy, in terms of the craft around it, whether it was the carriage, the saddle, the harness…”

Colour, too, is examined with an almost forensic lens. Burgevin Blachman reveals that meetings were held with the in-house gardener of the rooftop garden at the flagship store to understand and discuss the colours of the garden, the plans, and then come up with the perfect shade of white inspired by one of the flowers residing in the urban plantation.

The true ‘aha’, or as Burgevin Blachman calls it, “Touché, we did it,” moment comes when you see the fashion accessories—hats, belts, jewellery, et al. punctuate a look to perfection. Not a comma or clasp out of place. You see these at the shows—a dust-pink leather look broken at the midriff with a chameleonic belt harnessed together with a bridle as an ode to Hermès’ history. Or with a baseball hat placed as a cavalier addition but on closer inspection revealing depths of detail in its use of materials (cashmere) and shape (although baseball, twisted to look more like a riding cap). “We design objects that have the elements of beauty, desire, function, and a timeless spirit. So, even if it’s hats, we’ll make it in the Hermès way. You will not find a piece of plastic at the back to close it...we take the same care in making it as every other object of the House.”

Her favourite pastime when not putting pen to paper or designing new objects for the métier? Going through the Instagram accounts of her clients to see what they’ve done with an object she created or how they have styled it. “It amazes me, I love it. There’s the freedom to do whatever you want with them. They are just amazing objects that can go through time. There’s no diktat of trends, you can be free to do whatever you want with how you style them, and that is a thing of beauty.”

Image credit: Hermès

Photo credit: Willy Vanderperre; Studio des fleurs; Armando Grillo; Gasper Ruiz Lindberg

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