W Magazine China [IG] ‘The Icon’ Issue captures Hermès [IG] Women’s Creative Director Nadège Vanhee on the 10th anniversary of her transformational role at the House.

Following the Spring/Summer 2026 Paris Fashion Week, W China turned their Hermès lens toward the quiet dialogue between human and horse — as a meditation on balance: restrained yet free; soft yet strong.

Top model Lina Zhang wears Look 1 from the Fall-Winter 2018 Hermès Women’s collection on her cover. She is joined by He Cong with her cover in the W Magazine China cover story devoted to the Hermès Archives. Audrey Hu and Max Pearmain style the fashion shoot, with images by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin [IG]. / Hair by James Pecis; makeup by Lisa Butler

The creative director has succeeded in injecting a fresh, sensual vibe into the much-loved and admired, global, status-infused Hermès brand. For Spring 2026, Nadège Vanhee teeters on the edge of discreet eroticism, executed perhaps to make a precise point that she’s in quiet rebellion against being tagged as a leading force in the quiet luxury design culture.

Nadège Vanhee is totally correct in turning up the volume a decade into her tenure at Hermès. The Spring 2026 Collection is ready for an erotic thriller, and she’s riding high in the saddle.

Before he moved to Louis Vuitton as Deputy CEO from CEO of Loro Piana, Damien Bertrand also fought back against the confining, baby-blanket vision of quiet luxury. Like most concepts in fashion, trends are all or nothing in a fashion media driven by easy-to-remember bullet points and key word SEO.

No one is arguing that The Row or Brunello Cucinelli need a reboot. Not that AOC knows about. But the term quiet luxury becomes confining after several years of the trend.

Even Google realized they had created a sterile and often devoid-of-creativity black box for search results. In July 2024, they completely changed their view of smaller jewels like Anne of Carversville. And Google hasn’t second-guessed themselves on this decision. If you notice more original writing than ever on AOC, Google is rewarding and encouraging the strategy.

Also, note the head-twisting design in some of these images.~ Anne