In her third collaboration with theatre director Cyril Teste, the duo worked on what artistic director Véronique Nichanian described as an ‘augmented show’ – a real-time streamed experience, broadcast from the stone courtyard of the Mobilier National building in Paris. Attendees were provided with waterproof ponchos as they faced a triangular stage. Models walked the cobbled footpaths surrounded by screen installations presenting single-shot swoops of close-ups and movement details, giving the live audience and those at home a multi-dimensional view of the collection, while also underlining the digital/physical blur of today’s society.

As with many collections debuted this season, the prospect of travel is never out of mind. Nichanian made nautical references with rope belts were secured around models by silver hardware clasps inspired by open-sea sailing, while one colour used throughout was named ‘algae green’, and crocodile shirts took us to the bayous. Shirts and tees come in cotton and cashmere with Tunisian collars, others collarless in cotton canvas with sailboat stitching and a zipper front. The accompanying press release came with a fascinating Q+A between Nichanian and Teste, in which the two discuss the shifting ideas of creativity and liberty post-pandemic. Of the collection itself, the Hermes designer described it as “instilled with freedom momentum, a duality of spiit” – themes at the very heart of her craft.