French luxury brand Hermès honours its rich heritage with a new fine jewellery collection birthed from one simple item — the chain.
THE IDEA IS simple and basic, but the execution is transformative, and the presentation is mesmerising. Earlier last month in Paris, Pierre Hardy, a former dancer who is now creative director of Hermès jewellery, presented a dance performance. Imagine: a dancing couple, with arms interlocked, bodies linked, moving in rhythm. This is Hardy’s vision for the new Hermès fine jewellery collection, Enchaînements Libres, with the humble chain at the core of the collection.
This 29-piece collection of chain jewellery, reimagined in new dramatic forms and championing a play in proportion, carry designs that run from the bold to the delicate, and everything in between. The idea behind the new collection was to reconfigure the chain; pull the links of a chain apart and piece them back together in a construction that’s so supple, each new piece flows with the body’s movements. Here, Hardy unravels his chains of inspiration.
The chain is the central theme of the Enchaînements Libres collection. How did it inspire you?
At Hermès, the chain is a fundamental motif that draws on its origins as a harness-maker and saddler, and on a long tradition of chain-making know how. Taking the chain as a theme is choosing to pay tribute to this unique métier while exploring a shape, a form of great symbolic richness. To build the collection, I started by reflecting on links, their sequence, what connects micro to mega, the very human to the very abstract. The chain is what links scales and categories; it is a mathematical figure, like the torus and the Möbius strip. It connects and interconnects opposites, it attaches and liberates; it evokes strength, but also fluidity and softness.
How did you work with this strength of the chain in harmony with the body?
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der August 2018-Ausgabe von T Singapore: The New York Times Style Magazine.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der August 2018-Ausgabe von T Singapore: The New York Times Style Magazine.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Look At Us
As public memorials face a public reckoning, there’s still too little thought paid to how women are represented — as bodies and as selves.
Two New Jewellery Collections Find Their Inspiration In The Human Anatomy
Two new jewellery collections find their inspiration in the human anatomy.
She For She
We speak to three women in Singapore who are trying to improve the lives of women — and all other gender identities — through their work.
Over The Rainbow
How the bright colours and lively prints created by illustrator Donald Robertson brought the latest Weekend Max Mara Flutterflies capsule collection to life.
What Is Love?
The artist Hank Willis Thomas discusses his partnership with the Japanese fashion label Sacai and the idea of fashion in the context of the art world.
The Luxury Hotel For New Mums
Singapore’s first luxury confinement facility, Kai Suites, aims to provide much more than plush beds and 24-hour infant care: It wants to help mothers with their mental and emotional wellbeing as well.
Who Gets To Eat?
As recent food movements have focused on buying local or organic, a deeper and different conversation is happening among America’s food activists: one that demands not just better meals for everyone but a dismantling of the structures that have failed to nourish us all along.
Reimagining The Future Of Fashion
What do women want from their clothes and accessories, and does luxury still have a place in this post-pandemic era? The iconic designer Alber Elbaz thinks he has the answers with his new label, AZ Factory.
A Holiday At Home
Once seen as the less exciting alternative to an exotic destination holiday, the staycation takes on new importance.
All Dressed Up, Nowhere To Go
Chinese supermodel He Sui talks about the unseen pressures of being an international star, being a trailblazer for East Asian models in the fashion world, and why, at the end of the day, she is content with being known as just a regular girl from Wenzhou.
