With Edgy Performances and a Live Film, Hermès Hosted an Art-Filled Evening for A-Listers to Close Out New York Fashion Week

To close out New York Fashion
Week late last week, Hermès threw a glorious party at its
soon-to-be new home at 706 Madison Avenue, a striking four-floor
building that—though still technically under
construction—was transformed for the evening into a dreamland to
celebrate the whimsical spirit of the French house.

Known for its elegant and
artistic creations, Hermès tasked six artists with conceiving
special projects around six of its most popular objects in an
effort to showcase the craft and history behind each of
them.

The final artworks ranged far
and wide. Upon entering the space, visitors were shown upstairs to
the first floor, where they stepped right onto the stage of
Playtronica, a self-described “musical artist community,” whose
members make music from the electronic frequencies of found
objects, essentially turning seemingly random things into
instruments. 

The various objects Playtronica tricked out for the evening
transmitted a rich chorus of sounds, ping-ponging between a wooden
Kelly bag (the iconic carryall named for American actress and
Monégasque princess Grace Kelly), riding stirrups, and—quite
strangely—a pineapple.

Amidst the Playtronica
installation, another equally confounding performance took place,
choreographed by artist Madeline Hollander, who participated in
last year’s Whitney Biennial.

Every 24 minutes, a troupe of
dancers donning Hermès’s new and brightly hued double-sided scarf,
collectively cried out “Heureka!” while twirling about the space,
pointing to objects placed on various surfaces and screens
reflecting rolling footage of the party.

The play on “Eureka!” was,
according to the fashion house, meant to call attention to its
continued dedication to pursuing creative innovation and new
ideas—the evening’s unconventional performances not
excepted.

“Our tradition is to constantly
create!” exclaimed Pierre-Alexis Dumas, Hermès’s artistic director,
in a statement about the event. 

Upstairs, guests were waited on
and escorted around by servers dressed as horse-drawn-carriage
drivers, reflecting Hermes’s emblem, which was conceived in the
early 1950s.

Featuring a Duc carriage
attached to a horse, the imagery hearkens back to the house’s
humble beginnings as a horse saddlery manufacturer.

At the event, artist Jean-Simon
Roch created a “mechanics lab” focusing on Hermes’s bag closures,
clasps, and hardware—a fitting ode to house founder Émile-Maurice
Hermès, who was the first designer to use zippers on leather goods
and luggage after meeting with Henry Ford in America and
discovering the sliding system fastened to the cloth top of a car
in 1916.

(That innovation would go on to
make history in helping to establish Hermès as an inventive fashion
authority.)

Additionally, the design firm
Lab 212 crafted swing-sets out of Hermès’s saddles—on which guests
did, in fact, swing, while sipping their cocktails and noshing on
bite-sized passed appetizers.

Meanwhile, on the top floor,
award-winning filmmakers Michele Anne de Mey and Jaco Van Dormael
shot (and screened) a movie in real time. 

Overall, the celebration of the
house’s inspirations and core values were brought to life
significantly by the artworks, which proved to be fittingly
immersive, even if miniature, worlds in which to showcase Hermès’s
new objects. 

After several rounds of drinks,
the guests—including Naomi Campbell, Martha Stewart, Indre
Rockefeller, Zosia Mamet, Daniel Boulud, Tyler Mitchell, and Sophie
Elgort—made their way back downstairs for a little dessert and
dancing before heading out into the night. 

The post With Edgy Performances and a Live Film, Hermès
Hosted an Art-Filled Evening for A-Listers to Close Out New York
Fashion Week appeared first on artnet News.