The Urban Equestrian

The Hermès woman takes on a new edge with the maison’s fall‑winter 2024 collection—a blend of its equestrian heritage and urban toughness presented across two chapters

- Nafeesa Saini

For fall-winter 2024, Hermès evokes the equestrian spirit in an urban context with a womenswear collection inspired by horse riding and motorcycling. Presented against a moody backdrop in Paris’s Garde Républicaine–the training centre of the horses of the French Republican Guard–the first chapter of the collection introduces “The Rider”, a woman who swaps her saddle for a motorcycle seat, conquering urban landscapes with the same determination as she would a countryside trail, rocking silhouettes that are contemporary reinterpretations of equestrian classics and infused with a biker’s edge to celebrate the liberation of movement.

The show was staged on a stark, black runway, evoking the slickness of a nocturnal cityscape. “Rain” pouring down from the ceiling added to the atmospheric tension—emphasising The Rider’s resilience even in inclement weather.

Leather, a material synonymous with biker culture that is worn for its ability to protect against abrasions and injuries as well as insulate against bad weather, is at the heart of the collection and has been reimagined into multiple possibilities—chic belted jumpsuits inspired by a motorcyclist’s coveralls being just one example. Hermès even pushed the boundaries of leather craftsmanship with a new innovation:water-resistant cowhide. The monochromatic leather ensembles in burgundy, brown and even butter yellow seen at the show exuded a polished, edgy aesthetic, elevated by subtle embellishments such as gunmetal studs.

Equestrian influences permeate the collection as well, seen in iterations of the maison’s iconic riding jacket and the sleek, elongated pants inspired by jodhpurs. There is also a belted jacket quilted like a saddle pad, and studded biker jackets that draw from a horse’s saddle.