Fashion Week Handbags: Hermes Spring 2012

Images via Vogue.com

It must be difficult to take over a storied and iconic brand like Hermes, particularly for a designer like Christophe Lemaire, whose most high-profile gig before taking the reins of the French luxury giant was the top spot at Lacoste. Those are two very different posts, but Lemaire has managed to incorporate his own brand of crisp sportswear into the Hermes identity reasonably well. He’s not a showman like Jean Paul Gaultier, but if that’s what Hermes had wanted, they probably would have stuck with him.

If I could make one little request, though, it would be to see Birkins and Kellys on the runway. Hermes Spring 2012 didn’t have any, and with handbags playing such an integral role in the brand’s success, it would be nice to have a more public look at what Lemaire can do with the Hermes’ most iconic products. As Gaultier showed us for all those years, they make an excellent canvas for invention.