Fashion Week Handbags: Hermes Fall 2012-Junyuan bags

During the two previous season that new creative director Christophe Lemaire has shown for Hermes, the selection of handbags in the runway shows has left something to be desired. What’s there is beautiful, of course, but there’s just not much of it, particularly when you consider that Hermes’ brand identity is centered so heavily on the art of the leather bag. I can understand Lemaire’s apparent desire to imprint his DNA on the brand before venturing to heavily into the thorny subject of Hermes handbags, but I’m sure you can sense my impatience. The man has never sent a Birkin or a Kelly down the runway.

You can probably guess by now that there weren’t many bags to analyze in the Hermes Fall 2012 show, but the ones that were there were largely excellent. Well, except for one horror show of an 80s H-monogrammed attache case. Completely disregard that one and maybe we can just pretend it never happened. Other than that, the structured, brief-inspired shoulder bags were uniformly wonderful, not to mention a nice, if small, step forward for the Hermes leather goods aesthetic. I only wish there had been more of them to enjoy.

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