Despite all the buzz around the big-name debuts at Paris Fashion Week, Hermès still made its mark with its quieter Spring/Summer 2026 women’s show—no celebrities needed, unless you count Ina Garten.
The presentation was held at the Garde Républicaine, on a runway covered in sand and seashells. This season, Hermès creative director Nadège Vanhée was inspired by the Camargue, which sits along the Mediterranean sea and is famed for its beautiful beaches and white horses.
“Wild” and “free” are the words that you can use to describe not just the horses of the Camargue, but also the Hermès woman that Vanhée had in mind. Her latest collection is described in Hermès’s show notes as a “free-spirited equestrienne’s wardrobe”, and the results are sexier than it sounds.
Models walked down the runway in unbuttoned shirts and unzipped jackets, held together by leather harnesses and leather bra tops (or brassières, as the French luxury brand elegantly refers to them). Some models eschewed tops altogether and instead draped one of Hermès’s silk scarves over their bare skin; the airy silks would float about scandalously if not for the leather harnesses layered over them.
Those daring looks, which give a new meaning to “scarf tops”, are particularly remarkable: even now, the French luxury brand can come up with fresh ways to wear its carrés. Speaking of: many of the tops, jackets and skirts are splashed with a print taken from Hermès’s Aux Champs carré, which added vibrant pops of red to the collection’s otherwise neutral colour palette of sandy beige, white, navy blue and black.
Similarly, Vanhée continues to find exciting ways to inject Hermès’s equestrian heritage and traditional French craftsmanship into the modern woman’s wardrobe. The aforementioned leather accessories, as well as the belts that cinch the collection’s open dust coats, were inspired by an antique Camargue saddle preserved in the Hermès archives. You will notice the lines and curves of a saddle across the collection’s hand-waxed leather coats and jackets, or the wraparound pencil skirts. Meanwhile, the collection’s flirty crop tops, miniskirts and short-shorts feature elaborate quilting achieved by boutis needlework, a technique that originated in 17th-century France.
Even more reimagining of the familiar can be found in the bags department. This season, the Birkin comes in sand-coloured suede, matching the collection’s theme. The Kelly Hobo bag—also known among collectors as the So Kelly—makes its return in new colours, proving its lasting appeal long after Jean-Paul Gaultier introduced it in Hermès’ Fall/Winter 2008 collection. Gaultier also designed the Kelly Danse bag, which was worn around the waist by one of the models at the show.
Indeed, Hermès’s Spring/Summer 2026 show was brimming with style possibilities. Ahead, see our favourite looks from the collection.
This story first appeared on GRAZIA Singapore.
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