Well over half of the women’s Spring 2020 collection Hermès just debuted at Paris Fashion Week featured leather creations. Under the vision of Hermès fashion director Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski, the line included leather versions of coats, a mini shift, and a black tunic evocative of a workman’s apron.

The leather pieces were nuanced and lightweight, appearing to be no heavier than the woven and knit pieces. And, though Ms Vanhee-Cybulski is known to lean toward the more colourful, the 2020 collection was composed of largely more subtle tones, such as burgundy, khaki, olive, and black — colours equally at home in leather and non-leather apparel. 

The earthy leather-inspired palette extends to the Hermès website, which invites visitors to “take a walk under a bubinga-pink sky, in the half-light of dusk.” Describing the 2020 collection as “Unexpected Alliances," Hermès highlights the "Architectural silhouettes, when turned around, reveal the open back of a leather apron, an airy silk knit, a crisscross of leather patches.”