Miley Cyrus, Kerry Washington, and Others Celebrate Hermès' Arrival in Bel Air | Vanity Fair

“Champagne on the floor, champagne on the floor!” warned an attendant as guests entered a butter yellow pavilion last night for Nadège Vanhee’s standout show for Hermès in Los Angeles.

We were driven from the hotel Bel Air up a hill to the show’s location in tiny golf carts packed with amused fashion editors and puzzled Hermès-clad clients. From the venue, which took around a month to build on an open plot of land, I’m told, to the chagrin of nearby residents, one could see most of Bel Air, the elite residential neighborhood.

I had given myself a clear mission: to count the number of Birkin bags—the famed It-bag created for the late Jane Birkin—I could spot throughout the evening. I lost count about 45 minutes in. .

Here’s what I jotted down: Thirty-three Hermès Kelly bags, one of them a mini version strapped to a larger Birkin; thirty-nine Hermès Birkin bags—10 of them carried open with the insouciant attitude that could only belong to someone who could easily replace whatever may fall out of an open handbag; three of the elusive Himalayan Birkin, the holiest of Hermès handbag grails.

The show venue.

Inside the pavilion built for the show.

Hermès, Chapter II show in Los Angeles.

Hermès, Chapter II show in Los Angeles.

Hermès, Chapter II show in Los Angeles.

Hermès would pick Bel Air as its runway show location—just like the brand, the neighborhood is exclusive, secluded, and simply not for everyone, despite having household name-level recognition and having been the object of many dreams and aspirations.

Rather than a traditional destination cruise show, like the one Dior presented at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art last month or Gucci’s at Times Square that very same week, the storied French fashion house was hosting the “second chapter” of Vanhee’s fall-winter 2026 runway show, which she first showed in Paris in March.

Hermès likes to do things its own way, be that making devoted clients allegedly have to build up a hefty spend before receiving access to priced items like a Birkin, or, in this case, forgoing the routine of celebrities arriving at a step-and-repeat for myriad content opportunities.

Other than press, attendees at an Hermès show, including the famous faces in the room, are primarily clients and friendlies: When Miley Cyrus arrived wearing a skin-tight black Hermès leather mini dress with matching boots and took her seat next to Kerry Washington—near Keke Palmer and Julia Louis-Dreyfus—she looked at her seatmate and said, “I’m gagged, what are we buying?”

Miley Cyrus and Kerry Washington sit front row and sing along to a remix of “Bette Davis Eyes.”

There was lots to want, for Cyrus et al., in this collection, one of Vanhee’s most impactful in some time.

At a preview, the free-spirited French designer, who spent years at The Row before joining Hermès in 2014, spoke about the wide range of her inspirations while prancing barefoot in a makeshift showroom at a film studio complex in Culver City.

She said she loves LA, a city that inspired the pungent color palette in her lineup. “Los Angeles [has] this color that is unreachable in Europe,” she said: A sharp suit in bright red satin reminiscent of the interior decor in an old Hollywood home (earlier that day, I had visited the home of famed LA decorator Hutton Wilkinson, with its red satin pillows sitting on animal print furniture); an embroidered letterman’s jacket in a washed scarlet and a pastel yellow leather coat, both the kinds of bright hues made softer by the constant exposure to sun one spots around the city; an almost-black deep violet bomber jacket finished with speckles of glitter under a glossy sheen, “just like an LA sky,” Vanhee said.

Vanhee was a dancer when she was younger, which influenced the collection. (And Misty Copeland was one of the evening’s VIP guests.) “I’m showing you an already finished story,” Vanhee said, “which is the idea of a dancer coming out of rehearsal. She is walking down the street and wants to reach the ocean, therefore the idea of the horizon,” she said, before laughing at the mere idea of a preview like this one in which a designer is quizzed about her intentions: “I feel like I’m taking my A-levels,” she said.

She took the tucks and folds found in ballet pointe shoes and applied them to a foursome of strapless dresses. The fabrication and shape was reminiscent of old world French couture volumes. Vanhee is currently underway developing the first-ever couture collection for Hermès. When I pointed that out, she simply said, “ah, so you understand where we’re headed.” Coming soon: some more fodder for those fervent clients to jump at.

Vanhee said she had referenced the drape of a classic Hermès scarf for her billowing dresses. That instinct gave way to a collection that, once it ticked off the boxes of the standard Hermès-isms like some darker-toned leather separates and outerwear, felt light and at ease, with dresses and skirts that had Cyrus finger-clapping at every turn on the runway as she whispered to her stylist Bradley Kenneth. When she started mouthing the words of “Bette Davis Eyes” as it played in the finale, one could picture her singing it onstage wearing one of those sequined jumpsuits. The evident approval of the singer and actor, who I consider one of the most sincere and compelling exponents of Hollywood style, meant that Vanhee had captured the elusive essence of Los Angeles to great effect.

That very brand of easy glamour would sit right at home at the after party back at the hotel down the hill, where we arrived after lining up to ride another golf cart—walking was prohibited!

It was very Hermès affair that, rather than standing in a darkened room waiting for a good song to dance to, was a free-seating dinner with martinis and appetizers abound. It was the only instance in which Hermès bent the knee and leaned into some Americanisms: cheeseburger sliders, fries, and grilled cheese sandwiches proved worthy companions to the aforementioned Birkins.

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