Hermès has never been confined to coloring within the lines, so it’s no surprise that it has reimagined its own heritage narratives with surreal scenography and even the occasional song. This being Hermès, though, we’re anticipating a more sophisticated spectacle than an ‘experimental’ musical. Running from September 11 through 21, Hermèstories wants audiences to see its objects, colors and craftsmanship in a different light, or a little more lightheartedly, at least. Theater goer or not, Birkin buff or otherwise, the show is a timely reminder that visions of ‘luxury’ and ‘heritage’ don’t always have to be so earnest.
‘La création sans mémoire n’existe pas’ (‘Creation without memory does not exist’) is the Hermès philosophy, and the main thread of inspiration for French director Pauline Bayle, who wrote and directed the show. Artistic director of Théâtre Public de Montreuil and former guest editor of the Maison’s biannual magazine Le Monde d’Hermès, Bayle worked closely with Hermès artistic director, Pierre-Alexis Dumas, crafting a production that attempts to redefine the parameters of luxury storytelling. Accompanied by an exhibition in the theater’s foyer, Hermèstories spotlights the Maison’s ‘DNA’ in an artistic statement that is symbolic yet surreal.
“At Hermès, every object speaks. They bear witness to a long history of patience, inspiration, and precise gestures, interwoven with joyful encounters and curious anecdotes. They tell the story of a family house and the people who make it up, from the artisans to the boutique staff, not to mention the customers!” says Dumas.
“They represent the lively and bold side of creation, always striving to reinvent itself without ever repeating itself. ‘Creation without memory does not exist,’ Jean-Louis Dumas often repeated, and Hermèstories is the joyful display.”
For some viewers, the show might carry Alice in Wonderland undertones, while for others, it could echo elements of Salvador Dalí and Walt Disney’s animated short film Destino. Its main protagonist is an equestrian figure called ‘Lad’ (portrayed by a young woman), who traverses an imaginary world inspired by the Maison’s Parisian atelier in Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.
The Italian production’s multisensory value is enhanced by Monsieur Bruit, a live ‘sound artist’ who creates playful audio effects using Hermès objects and artisanal tools. While you don’t need a Carré 90 Dans le Bras scarf around your neck to feel part of the Hermèstories journey, high-tech headphones are provided to enhance the immersive theatrics.
The voyage continues in the foyer, where an installation of Hermès’s ‘artefacts’ is curated alongside the production’s props and stage design elements as an extended tribute to the Maison’s heritage that has endured since 1837. Teatro Franco Parenti, the Milanese performing arts theater dedicated to experimental contemporary performance (located in the same complex as the storied Bagni Misteriosi public swimming pool), seems a fitting location for this spectacle that reimagines more than 180 years of brand history and ‘the full diversity of the Maison’s sixteen métiers‘ in a surreal contemporary key.
Artisanal heritage has always been a narrative driver for Hermès. In recent years, the Maison has been a forerunner in ambitious feats of storytelling merging visual art, design, cinema and performance on a grand scale. Last year saw the release of the 30-minute film titled On the Wings of Hermès, created in collaboration with Belgian director Jaco van Dormael. The film, and subsequent live performance, capture a series of dreamlike vignettes recasting the Maison’s hallmark products in a narrative inspired by the myth of Pegasus.
Earlier this year, Hermès took over New York’s Pier 36 with Mystery at the Grooms, an equestrian-themed ‘escape room’ experience set inside a French-themed country estate. And let’s not forget the house’s rather ingenious virtual presentation of its Menswear Spring/Summer 2021 collection during lockdown. Captured inside Ateliers Hermès in Pantin, France, the seven-minute film by French director Cyril Teste was framed as one continuous shot, merging the ‘backstage’ rawness of the atelier context with the collection’s polished final looks.
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Continuing this thread of experimental creativity rooted in memory, narrative, and collective experience, Hermèstories is one of the few recent examples of a luxury maison exploring storytelling through live theater. In this context, multisensory stagecraft is a further testament to Hermès’s cultural and artistic sensibility and its universal, future-focused vision.
In Milan, where fashion is a particularly serious business come September, Hermèstories is an hour and five-minute escape into another dimension of craft, creativity,and imagination, and one that might just make you smile.