The Quiet force

After decades behind the scenes as an architect of unmistakable cool and timelessness for cult labels, NADĒGE VANHEE stepped into the spotlight as artistic director of HERMĒS womenswear. Ten years on, she's one of the few women to have achieved meaningful longevity atop one of fashion's most storied brands. Now, her vision is clearer than ever.

- TAMISON O'CONNOR

On an unusually hot Thursday in Paris, I'm sitting on the third floor of Hermès' Cité des Métiers building in Pantin, a suburb on the city's northeastern outskirts.

I'm waiting to meet Nadège Vanhee, artistic director of the brand's womenswear collections. She's running a few minutes late, I'm told. No bother, I say, a little distracted by my impressive surroundings (a 6,970 sq m former warehouse with floor-to-ceiling windows filling the space with natural light). But before I know it, a statuesque woman rushes over, exclaiming in a strong French accent: "I'm so sorry, the metro was delayed!" A creative director at one of the world's most venerated fashion houses takes the metro? I wasn't expecting that.

I'm quickly ushered into her office, where we're surrounded by an eclectic collection of books, which have been thumbed through many times over, with tabs poking out of the pages. I spot volumes about the work of photographer Tyler Mitchell and designer Eileen Gray. Others are filled with images of historic Soviet bus stops or Islamic architecture. Two or three dozen magazines are neatly laid out in piles on the floor. It's clear that Vanhee is an avid consumer of the arts. Once we're settled around a table, sipping coffee from Art Deco porcelain cups (Hermès, of course), she tells me that's what drew her to fashion in the first place. "It's where culture, art, self-expression and craftsmanship all merge into one," she says. "I've always tried for an expression of today, wherever I was."