For its first L.A. women's show, Hermès touches down in Bel-Air — Birkin bags everywhere 28%
By Elisa Wouk Almino0%
6/5/2026, 4:06:49 PM
Keywords: Hermes, Fashion Show, Los Angeles, Bel Air, Birkin Bags, Nadege Vanhee, Keyla Marquez, Brenda Hashtag, 80s Fashion
BS Summary: This article contains 34 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Halo Effect, and Appeal to Authority, with Biased Writer Voice as the most egregious example at 24.8% saturation with 201 hits. Analysis detected 1,611 faulty-reasoning hits from 811 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 39% and a BS Rank of 28% (15,777 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 72.10% of the article peer group.
How do you reserve your seat at an Hermès show?
A Birkin bag, apparently.
Even before pulling up to the Second Chapter of the Hermès women's ready-to-wear fall-winter show in Bel-Air — the house's first women's show in Los Angeles — photographer Tyler Matthew Oyer was texting me photos of women at check-in clutching their Birkins in one hand, phone and ID in the other.
“They are everywhere.”
I took a photo of my yellow raffia bag, the handle tied with an Hermès horse scarf that once belonged to my maternal grandmother.
Getting to the destination was like ascending to a parallel universe of the Getty, in similar excursion-like fashion — only instead of cable cars, we gathered into black vans with tinted windows that climbed the mountains opposite the museum.
After a solid 20 minutes of winding roads, we reached the grand reveal: a butter-yellow pavilion, delectable and whimsical like a giant cake on stilts, plastered with all-caps neon signage, SILHOUETTES ON THE HORIZON.
The structure, designed by Maybe Paris with Hermès creative director Nadège Vanhee, was built from scratch and took three weeks to build.
“I smell leather.
Do you smell leather?”
Keyla Marquez, our fashion director at large, asked, turning to me from inside the buttery dome, glass of Champagne in hand.
Hermès leather goods were on display, including on Keyla, who wore a vintage black skirt with zippers running up the front and back and a suede top.
The show started unusually on time, just moments past 7:30 p.m., at peak twilight.
But from where we sat, it was as if we were inside a sun going up at night, the suspended bands of light brightening and intensifying our yellow abode.
The runway looped like Bel-Air's roads, the models walking in S’s and the clothes following suit, dresses, ’80s flared pants and silks expanding and trailing behind them in a way that brought to mind Audrey Hepburn in “Funny Face,” snaking down the steps of the Louvre in Givenchy (“Take the picture!
Take the picture!”).
The show notes pointed to “the dancer’s wardrobe” as inspiration, embracing how fabric can have a mind of its own — gathering, draping, cascading.
“Don’t smooth out the wrinkles,” a voice over the music said.
Each wrinkle is “a powerful current.”
A double entendre for embracing age?
I liked to think so, especially when the soundtrack to the finale came on, Kim Carnes’ “Bette Davis Eyes,” a tribute to the Old Hollywood actor and her timeless, teasing gaze.
I caught up with Keyla Marquez after the show for her take on the evening.
<b>The first guest who caught your eye and why. </b>
Brenda Hashtag.
I’m a fan.
I feel like she’s of a new generation of influencers and has a lot to say.
She’s really vulnerable with the things she says about being in the fashion world.
She did an interview with the Cutting Room Floor about fashion shows and how people don’t say hi each other, and there’s nothing wrong with saying hi to each other.
She’s part of a new generation that has more vulnerability.
For me, it’s not so much celebrities but these people who are changing the landscape of the fashion industry and she’s one of them.
Even though she said she doesn’t like L.A. [laughs].
<b>Three words that describe the night for you.</b>
Magical, opulent and VIC’s.
<b>Did you have a favorite look?
</b>
Yes.
The body piece with the flared pant legs.
I feel like all these designers who grew up in the ’80s are bringing back the ’80s in a really chic way.
YSL did this collection a couple seasons ago with socks with fringe on them.
That outfit was very reminiscent of that.
There’s this new play on the ’80s but not in a cheesy way.
It’s very chic and luxurious.
<b>Monochrome ruled the runway.
Are you team red (“rouge tango”), blue-green (“vert impérial”), yellow (“jaune flave”) or black?
</b>
Black and yellow.
I would’ve been OK with the blue not being included.
I see the ’80s inspiration but I would’ve been OK with blue not being a part of the color palette.
<b>The best thing you ate after the show. </b>
Those egg thingies with roe were so good.
What was in it even?!
The truffle toast was bomb.
And of course, Champagne.
<b>Your take on the Birkin bag. </b>
The more worn out, the better.
<b>The thing you tell the L.A. haters who flew in for just a few days for the show. </b>
Get to know the culture.
Get to know the real people.
Go to the east side.
When the only thing that you see are the influencers and Erewhon, that’s not the real L.A.
You have to go to where the culture lives.
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3speakers36%attributed speech518writer words
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94%flagged-word coverageBrenda Hashtag
283 attributed words97% of attributed speech83% writer coverage
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