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Is She or Isn't She?
By Godfrey Deeny
Photos by: Gruber-FWD
Paris, Mar 11, 2001/ FWD/ --- Rumors, not ready-to-wear, dominated the conversation at Hermès's
catwalk in Paris Sunday, where talk that Jil Sander may replace Martin Margiela simmered in the
front row.
Word that Sander had been talking with Hermès surfaced last month.
On Sunday, Hermès director Gilles Duval insisted the reports were unfounded.
"I know this has been going around, but it's
completely without foundation. It's unfair to Martin, and it's wrong," Duval told FWD inside
Hermès's flagship store on the Faubourg St. Honoré where the show was staged.
Old friends of Sander, however, say she has held meetings with Hermès executives, which is
hardly surprising given her gold-carat reputation.
Sander has effectively taken a sabbatical since abruptly leaving the house she founded after
major differences of opinion with its new owner, Prada chief Patrizio Bertelli.
"Jil has received
several very interesting proposals," said one confidant, who insists that Sander had not made any
final decision.
Under terms of her agreement with Prada, Sander is currently prevented from designing any other
collections, though this restriction will shortly end.
The mere suggestion of her possible arrival at Hermès was treated enthusiastically by guests at
the show.
Editors could talk of little else.
"I have it from three sources that have never been
wrong that Jil is arriving," a woman with an accent from somewhere west of the Mississippi told
anyone who cared to listen as the fashion pack exited the boutique.
On the runway, Margiela sent out an elegant collection that showed the Hermès atelier at its best.
The clothes had that wonderful loving Hermès finish: mannish suits in cashmere and silk Prince of
Wales check; airy white leather shirts; brilliant raglan mackintoshes of a coated fine wool and
luxurious sleeveless coats.
They also had a certain grandeur thanks to coats of dark brown kidskin
made to look like mink and long bustier dresses of black silk ottoman.
Margiela's choice of models, many of them "real" women, is always a pleasure.
Though nobody
touched the incandescent beauty of Tatjana Patitz, who made a rare return to the Paris catwalks.
Using inexperienced models does involve risks.
The photographers turned into a pack of angry
huskies when several of them refused to make a stop on the catwalk.
But nothing could detract from the main item of conversation: What's up at Hermès.
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