ESSAY—
LIGHT HEART, FLYING MANE, DANCING FINGERS
By Shana Chandra
On the evening of 29th March, I waited outside my hotel in the 9th Arrondissement. A car was coming to take me to the address on the blue Hermès invitation that I clutched in one hand, my umbrella in the other. Despite the calendar proclaiming it should be spring, clouds sat heavy against the sky, and so I focused my spring fever on the hand-cut hope of roses adorning each white tablecloth of the next-door restaurant’s outdoor seating.
As the car flitted through the streets of Paris at dusk, the horse chestnut trees flicked off the last strands of light, and the magnificent Boulevard Haussmann began to fade from view. We were making our way to the north-east suburb of Aubervilliers, the quartier known for its television and film studios that hosts one of the largest stage sets in Europe—over 2000 m2 and 17 metres high. It was here, at Studio 217, a location known for filming television shows such as Dancing with the Stars and Star Academy as well as hosting heated political debates, that I was to be dropped off.
The invitation, a tabled programme of sorts that I voraciously studied in the backseat for clues, laid out a set description of seven scenes, and a request for my attendance at a seated dinner. Other than that, all I knew was that I would be witnessing the unveiling of the 2022 Hermès theme launch, an event steeped in delicious secrecy. Each year, the Maison releases a theme, to which creatives and artisans are invited to respond and dance their hands to—and this year it was ‘Vive La Légèreté!’ or ‘Long Live lightness!’ according to a command declared across the invitation and decorated with a pair of red wings.
By contrast, a cut-out cumulus which punctured the invitation’s envelope was matched by the clouds that veiled the sky outside my window. And, as we drove past the shouts of people protesting the war in Ukraine, it was a sombre reminder that a fellow European country nearby was currently being splintered, clouds forming in its skies too. Although clouds are light, they can also portend heavy things—just as Hermes the winged messenger of the Greek Gods was light-footed but may have delivered messages that spoke of war. It is for him that the Maison takes its name.
A sort of paradox embodies Studio 217 too—the huge brick and steel building that has been renamed “The Factory of Lightness”. Stepping into its dark interior, the vastness of the space was disguised, until you looked up and saw the ceiling’s turned-off track lights, giving a clue as to just how high the stage ventured. Light was provided through the glint of wine glasses set on trays, and through seven miniature, handcrafted sets placed around the studio. Once the show began, a huge screen above each set glowed like beacons, depicting the scene below and inviting the intimate crowd that gathered to come towards it.
This year the theme was translated into the dreamlike visions of director Jaco van Dormael, choreographer Michèle Anne de Mey, and production designer Sylvie Olivé, who joined their hands to create seven sketches—the illuminated visions that appeared before us. These animations evoked another creature of myth—the winged horse Pegasus—who, according to their imaginary history, had seven foals ‘as beautiful as the sun, as strong as thunder, and as lively as a storm.’ When it came time for the young horses to learn how to fly like their father, Pegasus explained that each foal would have to find their own unique form of lightness, in order for them to grow the wings they needed.
‘Lightness is everywhere, all around
you’, Pegasus told them. ‘It is not
always where you think, it is not hidden.
To find it, you have to know how
-
to recognise it: lightness is when the
everyday becomes wondrous, it is in
the softness of a smile, the gentleness
of a caress, the gracefulness of
-
a gesture. Lightness is a movement,
a thought, a word, an idea. So go, my
children, and travel the world in search
of your lightness.’
Each new sketch revealed a lesson in levity to help the Pegasus foal grow its wings. And, as we watched, it felt like it was designed to help ours grow too. Luxury products by Hermès put on a show: a set of cute Kellys sang the overture of Barber of Seville—their mouths the flap of the bag that serenaded us—to the squeals and delight of the audience. Another sketch had actors’ hands dressed up as a circus horse and playing a tightrope walker traversing the rope in a tent, reminding us of how our hands are like wings too—for it is with them that we create and fly. In another, an actor wearing a horsehead primped themself with Hermès Make-Up.
And so, lightness was shown at the 2022 Hermès theme launch through the click of a Kelly clasp, the curve of a lipstick as it colours your lip, and the heritage that is stitched into the seam of scarf as it whips its silk around you. Such fleeting moments designed to treasure were also shown in the scenes we watched—like the Pegasus constellation glowing bright in the night sky, the childhood memories of sandcastles melting into waves, and the pair of lovers suspended in the wind; their tender gestures ephemeral.
Surrounded by utter darkness in The Factory of Lightness, we were reminded by Hermès not to take any of these light-hearted moments in life for granted. That finding such moments may be how you grow your wings but remembering them—especially in heavy times—is how you rise up and keep them.
fin.