Not even fashion was immune to the Paris Olympics fever, and it showed in the Spring/Summer 2025 collections. This season, many fashion brands considered athleticism and the body in movement: sporty pieces were reimagined with unexpected styling at Miu Miu, or spruced up with dazzling fabrications, as seen at Dior and Tory Burch. Ferragamo showed elegant eveningwear styles inspired by the world of ballet, while Balenciaga proposed a new form of athleisure, complete with 3D-printed tube tops. In comparison, what Hermès offered is a lot subtler—and sexier.
For starters, there was the return of the Hermès bralette, which creative director Nadège Vanhée had boldly introduced to the modest Hermès woman’s wardrobe for Spring/Summer 2024. This time around, they were worn under cropped mesh tops, playing to the concept of “clothes that hover over and reproportion each other” that was highlighted in the collection’s notes.
Layering was also explored through culottes whose sheer silk fabric revealed the boy shorts underneath. Those micro shorts make quite the statement, especially when they peek out above the waistbands of the culottes. Vanhée takes the cheeky styling trick of deliberately showing off your undergarments—as popularised by Miu Miu’s viral Spring/Summer 2022 show—but gives it a sophisticated twist, by looping a skinny Médor buckle belt around the shorts.
Snatched waists aren’t the only thing that was emphasised at Hermès’s Spring/Summer 2025 show. On the runway, models wore long mesh skirts that could be unzipped at the sides to create thigh-high slits. Vanhée makes use of such utilitarian details throughout the collection to draw attention to the body: pockets are strategically placed on the front of see-through T-shirts, while minidresses feature functional zippers that run right down the middle. These pieces embody another message from the collection’s notes: “Function, repeated with intent, until it blends into sensuality.”
Not every ensemble teased with the shock of skin. Some looks invited touch with the use of Hermès’s buttery leather, which comes in colours like deep brown and burnt orange this season. The suppleness of the material was demonstrated on the bomber jackets and high-waisted pants, which underscored Vanhée’s special talent for creating women’s clothes that offer not just sensuality but also agility and flexibility. After all, Hermès is a house that values both form and function.
Hermès is also a house built on a legacy of exceptional craftsmanship. One wonders how many hands and hours it took to assemble the geometric dresses and skirts in laser-cut leathers, or to produce the elaborate pattern seen on a silk twill romper with traditional methods like block printing and screen printing. The allure of craft also speaks for itself on the new Birkin à l’envers bag. Its inside-out design shows off the many different parts that are used to construct Hermès’s most prized creation, down to the smallest detail.
As considered as each design is, nothing in Hermès’s Spring/ Summer 2025 collection looks heavy-handed. Instead, what is offered up is a wardrobe that is versatile and sophisticated. You can imagine the Hermès woman going about her day while wearing these pieces with ease and confidence—which is what being sexy is really about, anyway.
This story first appeared in the May 2025 issue of GRAZIA Singapore.
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