To mark the opening of Hermès’ new flagship store in Hong Kong this month, we talk fashion with Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski, the French fashion house's artistic director of women’s ready-to-wear
She has the reputation of being a quiet designer—a reluctant fashion star who prefers success over celebrity, rarely gives interviews and shies away from social media. But when I meet Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski, Hermès’ artistic director of women’s ready-to-wear, on a bitingly cold morning in Paris, she is anything but reserved.
Maybe it’s the double espressos we just sipped at the historic French luxury brand’s headquarters on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré or maybe the designer is finally coming out of her shell. After all, she’s celebrating three years at the famous fashion house since taking over from Christophe Lemaire in 2014.
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Vanhee-Cybulski had already earned her fashion stripes working at Maison Martin Margiela and then moving on to roles as senior designer at Céline and women’s design director at The Row, and she rightly deserves her place at the creative helm of Hermès.
Today she is in her element as she runs her hand along a clothing rail showcasing her new collection, fingering the fabrics, stroking the sleeves, admiring the cuffs and collars, like a proud mother inspecting her children before their first day at school.
Looking casually chic in the way only French women can, she’s dressed head to toe in black, with chunky sneakers poking out from beneath a huge, fuzzy black coat, pale skin free of make-up, and wild, windswept auburn hair.
She speaks softly but with intensity. Despite apologising for her “bad English,” she has an evocative way with words. “So, what would you like to know,” she asks. And off we go…