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Perhaps it was the sight of a Frenchman breathing life into the vaunted French leather-goods house that caused a few women in the audience to dab tears from their eyes. It was one of the most anticipated events of the season here: the first Hermes collection by Jean-Paul Gaultier, the legendary designer who put Madonna in a cone bra and men in skirts. Started as a saddlery in 1837, the company is now known more for its wait-listed Birkin and Kelly bags than for its clothing, previously quietly designed by Martin Margiela. Saturday's show was held at L'Ecole Militaire, where officers practiced dressage as guests found their seats on bales of hay.
Gaultier at last gave the house a fashion identity, by melding his own design signatures -- corsets, bodysuits, sweatshirts -- with Hermes signatures such as riding clothes, silk scarves, the screw closures of the Birkin bags and luxurious skins. A tobacco shearling sweatshirt was worn with a slinky hooded green dress and one of many pairs of riding boots in crocodile or leather with Birkin hardware at the top. A black leather kilt had a blue and green scarf print layered between the pleats. A long trench coat floated down the runway in a bewitching shade of campfire-red velvet, with a matching leather pencil skirt. Also on offer: tweed trousers in autumnal shades of caramel and burgundy tailored by Gaultier's expert hand, a crocodile jacket with a shredded hem, a new elongated Kelly bag and, for giggles, a brown leather corset with a small padlock at the top - - a chastity belt that will cost daddy thousands.
Gaultier rekindled the house's heirloom quality by inviting several generations onto the runway. Twentysomething (or younger) models wore ponytails so long and lush, they resembled the genuine equine articles; Linda Evangelista brandished a riding crop; and an older woman was accompanied by ... her gigolo, perhaps? The presentation was unfailingly classy but also fun, which is what Hermes has been missing for so long.
When Alexander McQueen, who once had live wolves on his runway, described his show as "stripped of...