Who Will Design the New Hermès Couture Line?

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Hermès is finally moving into the world of haute couture and according to WWD they’ve already started building out their team, hiring French designer Léa Peckre — a winner of Hyères and ANDAM fashion prizes — to work on the new line. But is she going to be in charge?

Peckre studied fashion design at the prestigious La Cambre in Brussels, then worked on couture at Jean Paul Gaultier and Givenchy before heading to Isabel Marant and then starting her own eponymous line in 2013.

However, despite her impressive resume and many awards, Peckre is not exactly a well known entity. Which may be exactly what Hermès is looking for in a designer. After all, they did recently hired Grace Wales Bonner to take over menswear. Bonner is talented to be sure, but she’s pretty low preofile as far as designers go. And her namesake line has always been fairly niche. In fact most people outside the fashion world (and even some within it) had little to no knowledge of her before she got the job at Hermès. There is a certain discretion to Bonner’s designs, though – minimal, expensive, and utterly unflashy — that feels in keeping with the restrained ethos of Hermès. And Peckre certainly has a similarly understated aesthetic. Or had. Her label shuttered a while ago with little fanfare, so who knows how her tastes have evolved since.

Do awards and discretion qualify Peckre to lead couture at one of the world’s most successful fashion houses, though? She seems like the kind of designer who is more interested in the making of clothes than the fashioning of fantasies, which, again, could be exactly what Hermès is looking for. But, honestly, if that is the case, it feels like a bit of a wasted opportuinity. Constuction is important in couture, of course, but so are vision and drama. Maybe Peckre can deliver those things as well, but her short-lived namesake line never really did. She made nice clothes, but nothing to capture the imagination.

Of course, if Hermès did hire Peckre for the big job, one imagines she must have produced an absolutely stellar package for them and laid out a mind-blowing vision for the brand. She’d have to, right? Anyone going in for that job would.

Still, it seems like she might be better suited to the job of première — head of the couture studio — than overall creative director and designer. And just because Hermès hired her (if, indeed, they did) doesn’t mean they made her creative director. The plan could very well be to have her work under someone else. But who?

1. Jean Paul Gaultier
Gaultier was the creative director of Hermès from 2003-2010 and his designs are some of the best and most highly collectible in the brand’s history. He also worked with Peckre on his own couture collections, so maybe she’s going to Hermès to work with him once again. Now that Duran Lantink is firmly established at JPG, one imagines Gaultier finally has the time and bandwidth to take on couture responsibilities at Hermès if he wants to. Then again, he is 73. He probably just wants to rest. And even if he doesn’t, fashion houses rarely bring back former designers when they are looking for a refresh.

2. Riccardo Tisci
Tisci worked with Peckre when she was at Givenchy. And let’s be honest, his couture collections for Givenchy were the best designs of his career. He’s been laying pretty low since he was let go from Burberry and his collections there were not the best, but Tisci returning to couture would be pretty exciting and it would make sense for him to hire people, like Peckre, who he knows and has history with to work alongside him.

Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci Fall 2012 Couture

3. Phoebe Philo
This one feels like a longshot, especially since her namesake line seems to be doing so well, but you can see it right? Philo at Hermès just makes a certain sense.

Or maybe it will be Peckre after all. So far, Hermès has neither confirmed nor denied hiring Peckre or anyone else. One thing’s for sure, though, whoever they hire, their couture debut will be the most hotly anticipated show of the season. If not the year.

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